Roark Instruments Employee of the Month
by Purrum
Summary: Kicked out of Stanford, Chuck still manages to land his dream job working for Ted Roark. Working for Roark has its rewards, including joining the company's social group known as Fulcrum.
1. Chapter 1 Welcome to Roark Instruments

**I really enjoyed reading the story "The Other Agency" by Fire From Above. In his story Chuck was already with Fulcrum when Bryce Larkin sent him the Intersect. Chuck then had to balance his double life as a Government asset and a terrorist operative from Sarah and Casey. I thought it a pity the author didn't finish it. I believed that Chuck's double life would end badly for him so I started to put down some thoughts I had and this is the result. I hope you enjoy.**

Chapter 1: Welcome to Roark Instruments

Jill was looking at him in disbelief. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, head in hands, face pale, and an aura of panic and despair settling around him.

"I didn't cheat. I don't know why he's doing this. I don't understand. Please Jill, you have to believe me." He was looking at her now, a look of utter pleading directed at her.

"I believe you." Jill walked crossed the room and took her boyfriend's hands in her own. His palms were sweaty with his nervousness. She just squeezed his hands and settled herself on his lap. They wrapped their arms around each other and held on tightly.

"Have you confronted him? Asked him why he did it to you?"

"He said I brought it on myself. Brought it on myself? What the fuck does that mean?"

"So where is he now?"

"Downstairs playing pool."

Jill got out of his lap and with a determination walked out of Chuck's room and down the stairs to the pool table where Bryce was playing a match against Steve Hunter. Jill walked over to the table as Bryce was lining up a shot. He ignored her presence and continued with his game until Jill snatched the cue ball up before Bryce could have his shot.

That got his attention as he stood upright and looked across the table at a pissed off Jill Roberts gently tossing the white ball in the air then catching it.

"Why the fuck did you do it?"

"I don't like cheaters!"

"What! You've been copying his work for three years, you have handed in assignments that he wrote passing it off as you own work."

"I have not!"

"Ha! You're the biggest sponger I know, throwing your money around buying up last year's students' class notes and exams tests. Nothing you ever handed in was your own original work. All that help that Chuck gave you and you repay him this way. You really are nothing more than a shitty rat!"

"Jill, you're no longer welcomed here in this house so get that fat arse of yours and get the fuck out of here!"

Big mistake. Jill's years of playing softball paid off, she threw the white ball at Bryce's head, Bryce's reflexes kicked in and he moved his head enough to stop a direct hit. The ball still managed the strike him just above the ear, it ricocheted off him and shattered a window behind him. The hit stung him enough to drop him temporarily to the floor before he got up to advance towards her. His path was blocked by Steve Hunter who grabbed him firmly at the front.

"We don't assault women in this fraternity!" He said firmly.

He held Bryce long enough to feel Bryce relax, he then spun the smaller man around and forced him toward the door.

"Get outside and find that cueball." And then gave Bryce a hard push, Bryce was out the door before he knew it. Hunter then turned to Jill and gave a wry smile.

"You better make yourself scarce." Then in a softer voice, "Good shot, I don't think we like him any more."

Jill didn't know what Bryce's game was, but she, and everyone else knew that Chuck was not a cheater. Unfortunately, the administration had another view. He was supposed to leave tomorrow, and she didn't know what to do.

Jill then ascended the stairs and re-entered Chuck's room, she noticed that Chuck had finished packing his belongings.

"This is the end, Jill. My life is over. I'm walking out of here in utter shame and humiliation. My dream job of working for Roark Instruments is gone. I know I have still have so much to offer, but that's going to waste. Not when I'm getting kicked out of Stanford for cheating. Roark won't even look at me." Chuck was still in a state of numb shock and underlying desperation.

She was surprised that Chuck had accumulated so little in his three years here. A couple of suitcases, his laptop and a box of nik naks, it only took one trip for the two of them to carry all the stuff to his car.

"Come on, you're staying with me tonight!"

Chuck was having a restless night's sleep, actually he wasn't sleeping at all, he was too busy worrying about how his life had suddenly gone off the rails. As he lay there, well, he tossed and turned that much it was impossible for Jill to get any sleep. It was still the early hours of the morning and Jill's roommate Cherry was soundly sleeping in the other room.

Suddenly Chuck felt Jill's hand moving, he let it roam over his chest and down his abdomen. She didn't stop until she had a firm hold of Chuck's manhood. She rubbed it until it began to grow hard then she moved her body and encased his prick with her mouth. Jill proceeded to give Chuck a blow job.

"Jill? What are you doing?"

"I'm helping you to sleep, relax and enjoy it!"

"You don't have to do this you know."

"I'm not having to, I'm wanting to. Now just relax and let me finish what I've started."

Chuck dropped back onto his back, as he felt Jill industrious mouth create an amazing sensation on his shaft, she sucked and nibbled and caressed him. She bobbed her head up and down his shaft and cupped his testicles with her hand.

She felt the change is his breathing; she was sure pressure of his climax was building. He couldn't control his release and erupted into her mouth; she didn't miss a beat and swallowed him completely. She carried him over the edge and into the darkness.

She wiggled up the bed and laid her head against his chest. "I love you, Chuck," she whispered softly as he curled his arm around her.

She always knew that their college affair would end and they would each choose a different path, Jill knew that her time with Chuck was coming to an end she wanted to help him. He was in trouble and he needed her. She tried to think through the swirl of emotions that were buffeting her.

"You know, Chuck. You're one of the most brilliant guys I know," she whispered in his ear. A flash of inspiration struck her. She felt her spirits lift a little in hope. "Actually, I don't think this is the end quite yet. I know someone who might be able to use your special talents."

The next morning Jill rang her "Uncle Bernie". He wasn't really her uncle but he was a close friend of her father and was always good to Jill. She rang him at his home and gave him the rundown on Chuck's situation.

"He is really brilliant. And there's the fact he's getting screwed out of a prestigious university. He is embarrassed and depressed about his future prospects. In his current mental state he will be extremely grateful for any job. Could you find him a position in R&D or as an analyst?"

Jill was looking hopefully at her Uncle Bernie. She was trying her best to sell Chuck to her godfather so that he can be happy. It would be an added bonus if Chuck could work locally as it mean that they could still stay together by working together.

Bernie took in all of the points that Jill had told him about Chuck. His grades, side projects, and other ways that he showcased his ingenuity in daily life were illustrated quite well by his favourite godchild. He definitely sounded like an attractive candidate for Roark Instruments. But he had to be sure.

"Jill, are you sure you're not doing this because he is your boyfriend?"

She was a bit taken aback, but quickly recovered. She decided to be honest. "Chuck is the smartest guy I know when it comes to computers and engineering in general. And I really think that he'll take well to any organization. And I wouldn't know about him if I wasn't dating him. The fact that he is my boyfriend is why I know he will be great."

"Will he be loyal?"

"Yes. He is everybody's friend and tries his best to please people. He is really vulnerable right now. He can barely look at anyone without feeling unfairly judged. The fact that he is getting kicked out of a prestigious university for cheating is going to put a red flag on him for any future employers. Roark was badgering him to go part time, well now he is available. He's nearing the end of his course and he wouldn't learn much more now anyway. He just won't have that piece of paper. As he sees it right now, there is nowhere left for him to go. But I can vouch for him that he has gotten everything in his life on his own merits."

Bernie leaned back and took in all that Jill had said. She was quite passionate and convincing about the guy. He trusted her judgment and could sense the truth in what she said.

"Alright, Jill; Bring him in. I would like to evaluate him and see what he can offer the company. In the meantime, we're going to do a little background check."

Bernie would pass on her praises to his recruitment officer at Roark Instruments, Vincent Smith was always looking out for smart people that may have a chip on their shoulder.

Tension eased out of Jill and relief made itself clear in her smile and the sag of her shoulders. "Thank you. I'll bring him in right away."

Vincent Smith looked at Chuck's resume, from what he could see, the kid was good. In fact the kid was gifted at computers; his grades were outstanding except for the one subject he ended up getting expelled over. The reasons why the CIA wanted Charles Bartowski had merited thorough investigation. In the meantime, Roark can swoop in and take Chuck as its own.

Chuck's interview itself did not go well, it was an obvious case of the nerves, Chuck managed to stumble his way through it, had he not been sitting down he would have tripped over his own feet.

Vincent couldn't believe the young man sitting in front of him was the same person on the resume. Vincent decided to ask Chuck a whammy of a question.

"Tell me something about yourself that is not on your resume?"

Chucked looked at him like he was a rabbit in the spotlight, he knew his interview was less than impressive, he was desperate to get this job, for Ellie and for Jill.

"I've been known to hack into secure sites." He said softly.

That was what Vincent was after, the boy was known to push the boundaries of legalities. He leaned forward in his chair and gave a wry grin.

"So you can hack? Roark Instruments has one of the most secure servers on the planet."

He thought he saw Chuck slightly shake his head. Vincent then pulled a piece of paper out of a draw of his desk. The image on the paper was the Fulcrum logo.

"If you can find this image using my computer, you have yourself a job!"

Vincent got out of his chair and beckon Chuck to sit in it. Chuck did as instructed and looked at the computer. Noticing the computer was on he hit the enter screen. Up popped the RIO image and it was password protected.

"It's password protected, can I have the password?"

"That's too easy. I want you to hack your way in."

"Oh? Right!"

Chuck rolled his shoulders then flexed his fingers and rebooted the machine, going though the setup menu he moved his way around DOS and the history files. Vincent was impressed, within seconds he had bypassed the security features and was inside the RIO Firewall. He worked his way into the Gif files and as they scrolled quickly down the screen until the appropriate image was on the screen

Vincent thought he felt in his gut that Chuck would prove to be an invaluable in advancing Roark's interests.

Vincent smiled at Chuck, "Congratulations Charles. Welcome to Roark Instruments. When can you start?"

Chuck was delighted, he didn't have much money but what he had was going to be spent making his girlfriend feel like a princess. Chuck was fortunate that Jill liked the simple things in life; him. Tonight he was going to indulge his girlfriend a romantic dinner at their favourite restaurant and then later something a bit more intimate.

To say that Ellie was disappointed, was an understatement, for her getting a piece of paper with a diploma on it was one of life's major goals, but it was softened when he told her that Roark Instruments wanted him. She knew that Roark had been proactive, actively source out students on campus, Roark was a company in a hurry. They must have thrown a big incentive at Chuck to get him to leave Sandford early, and Chuck was right, he could return later to finish once he settled in to his new life.

Fortunately he didn't need to tell her about the whole Sandford thing. He might not have gotten his diploma, but he was still pursuing a life goal. As he looked forward he was a little nervous about what he might have just gotten himself into, but it couldn't be any worse than anything else he might have had to do after leaving Stanford in disgrace.

Chuck was feeling a lot of things. Anxiety, excitement, nervousness, fear, giddiness, and nausea proclaimed war in Chuck. He still was a bit apprehensive as he walked up to the reception desk in the Roark Instruments lobby.

"Good morning, I'm Charles Bartowski, I'm new here, so I just wanted to know where I can find Mr. Rodney Barnes? It's my first day and this place is really big and I'm really excited to have the chance to work here."

"Well, welcome aboard. I'll just check you off our list, here you are, this is your pass and your ID card. Make sure it is visible at all times. Now do you have Mr Barnes number? No? I'll just call him, Yes Mr Barnes; a Mr Bartowski is here, It's his first day. Okay I'll send him straight up. Go to the elevators to Level 5. Take a left at the first hallway and keep going until you reach his office. Have a nice day."

The dismissal was not lost on Chuck, he attached his new ID card to his shirt pocket then using his pass card he made his way through the security gates. He followed some other people to the lifts then got off on the fifth floor. He soon found himself in a rather messy office.

Mr. Barnes stood up from behind his desk and made his way around to shake Chuck's hand. "Ah, you must be Chuck! I've read Vincent Smith's recommendation and I'm excited to get started with you. We are working on a computer database that will revolutionize the world. Oh where are my manners, first you'll meet the team, then we'll get you settled in and then we'll show you what we're working on."

Rodney took the opportunity to introduce Chuck to the rest of the team, Chuck shook hands with Anton Moss, Pete Pascatori and Henry Kaye. They all greeted him warmly, there was one member of staff that displayed his rudeness, he was Harry Tang. Chuck got a bad vibe off Tang especially with Tang's comment about Chuck being the new coffee boy.

Tang's face lost all of its colour when he found out the Chuck was given an office like Rodney Barnes, the rest of the staff were in the open area with cubicles.

After allowing Chuck to set himself up in his new office Rodney Barnes then took Chuck with him out of the door and into another elevator. Chuck couldn't seem to get a word in, Rodney was so excited, so he just took in everything his companion was saying. They got out of some basement level into a rather large and white room.

Chuck's eyes widened in shock and glee when he was face to face with Ted Roark himself. There stood Roark, in his Hawaiian shirt, white slacks and matching runners, white haired and with a suntan. Roark was tall, almost as tall as Chuck but as the years had weighted him down a bit.

The computer mogul smirked at him and held his hand out for a shake that Chuck was eager to do.

"Welcome to Roark Instruments, Charles."

"Thank you Mr Roark."

"Only arseholes and the President call me Mr Roark, you can always call me Ted!"

"Thank you Ted, you can call me Chuck!"

They finished shaking hands and Ted leaned in a bit closer and said, "I heard you cracked our firewall in a matter of seconds."

Chuck face went a mild shade of red.

Roark turned to Barnes, "This boy hacked pass our security in a matter of seconds. I like a man who can cross boundaries. I like a man who will use his initiative to get what he wants."

He then turned back to Chuck, "Your first task is to write a patch so you can't hack in the same way again!"

"Yes sir, thank you, sir. You can't believe how excited and grateful I am to be here. You are one of my heroes, and I just wish that I can make a difference in your company."

Ted beamed at the enthusiasm his new employee was displaying. "And we're glad that you can join us."

"What's this I hear about you getting caught with exam papers in your room?"

Chuck when bright red and he was about to say something but Ted chipped in.

"Can you believe that, now that's initiative!"

Ted grabbed Chuck by the shoulders and gave him a manly squeeze.

"Initiative. and that's what I like to see, a man with ingenuity, a man prepared to think outside the box."

With that he slapped Chuck on the back and then move to the liquor cabinet. He poured himself a very stiff whisky and held his glass up to give a toast. After tilting his head and slamming the drink down in one go, he smiled at Chuck and with delight he announced.

"We are working on a new computer that will help push our agenda on the world stage. However, it still needs some work. Let me introduce you to the Intersect Computer. I'm sure that with your skill, it will help mankind in every way that we desire."


	2. Chapter 2 Life is Good

**Last chapter we learnt how Chuck good recruited by Roark Instruments, now we'll learn how he gets on at Roark.**

Chapter 2: Life is Good

Chuck settled into his new life with ease, his job at Roark was very fulfilling and it paid very well, gone were the days when he struggled financially at college and gone too was begging for extra shifts at his local Buy More just to make ends meet. Now he didn't have to, he was rolling in it; he even sent money to Ellie who was finishing her doctorate.

Working for Roark had many privileges, when Ted Roark on a whim move the operations from the Silicon Valley to LA because he wanted to attend more Hollywood parties and found the copter flight home tedious, all the employees got interest free loans to buy whatever property they wanted. Chuck took full advantage of this by buying an apartment complex and moving into the one with the view. He allowed his sister to move in with him, mainly because she was a better cook than his old mate Morgan Grimes.

The Roark salary package was very generous, he was given a company car and a fuel card so he didn't have pay for a thing. He rose quickly in the organisation; he was soon on an equal footing with his boss, Rodney Barnes, courteous and well liked by most of the group of programmers that had to report to him, everyone except Harry Tang.

Harry Tang was a pain in the arse, he was rude and lazy, so much so that Chuck wondered why Roark still employed him. Tang was not a good programmer, in fact the rest of the workers ridiculed him, Chuck basically made him an admin services person, another name was gopher, Tang only skill was the ability to make a great cup of coffee for which Chuck was grateful. As long as Tang kept the coffee coming then they put up with him.

Everything seemed to go swimmingly except for one part of his life; he had broken up with his long time girlfriend, Jill Roberts. When Chuck started at Roark he rented an apartment midway between his work and Jill's campus, he wanted her to move in but couldn't understand Jill's reluctance. Jill had thought that if she moved in with him she would never want to leave. Jill had been sitting on a secret, she had a job offer from a pharmaceutical company based in Boston. Jill choose to live by the family motto _'think with your head, love with your heart'_. He kept asking so she finally agreed to a compromise, Jill stayed with him at the weekends then returned to her campus lodgings during the week so she could continue her studies. Several months later Jill had graduated with honors, she then accepted the position with the company on the East Coast. The young lovers found the tyranny of distance was a great burden. They took turns in flying across the country to see each other but the flights became less frequent and the demands of their careers was too great for the relationship to overcome. Although he still loved her, he deliberately made himself was extremely busy at work to think about missing her. He put too much effort in his work and not enough effort in to keep the relationship going. Jill knew this too, as she was in the same circumstances; one night during one of their coast to coast phone calls the inevitable happened and Jill took responsibility and ended the relationship with them agreeing to remain good friends. Chuck was saddened when this happened as he knew that the friendship was doomed and that he would probably never see her again. She said it was for the best, but Chuck still got drunk when he heard through the grapevine that she was dating her boss.

Ellie had a new hobby as a matchmaker, Chuck was footloose and fancy free and Ellie loved to interfere with his private life. The medical profession had thousands of girls working in it. Whether they be doctors, nurses, physio's or other trained professionals Ellie had a large supply of young ladies from her work that she tried to set Chuck up with. Chuck had to be careful not to destroy Ellie's working relationships, if he messed up badly with any of her colleagues. He was always courteous and polite.

Ellie threw great parties; the word was out at her hospital, and several other medical establishments knew that an Ellie party was not to be missed. Ellie would wonder why Chuck would bring his lifelong buddy Morgan to these gatherings, as the little man would cramp Chuck's style and scare potential suitors away. Ellie believed Chuck did this because he wasn't over his break up with Jill. Ellie liked Jill but there was something about her that just didn't gel. She in the end was glad that Chuck and Jill had ended their relationship, because she thought that they weren't suited in the long term. Jill wasn't the one for him. Even after a couple of years, Chuck wouldn't hear a bad word against Jill, he once refused to speak to Ellie for months after an unkind comment, Chuck still held a candle for her, he would be loyal to the end.

So Ellie would throw these parties, and continued to invite real women as she called it in the hope that Chuck would move on. While some of the girls were interested in Chuck, unfortunately he was not that interested in them, he when on a few dates but he was too busy concentrating on solving the problems at Roark than the girl sitting across the table to him to establish a new relationship.

"Maybe if we decrease the data load in each picture, that could make it easier for download and retention. The downsides would be that there will be a lot more useless junk in the files and it would take longer to take in everything. At least, those are the things I can think of off the top of my head."

Chuck rubbed his temple as he continued to problem solve, Rodney Barnes and the team were trying to figure out ways to download the Intersect into a wider array of people without frying their brains. So far, progress was at a standstill.

"Hmm, maybe we should take a break," Rodney said. "I could use a beer. And my head is killing me from all this thinking."

It was late on a Friday and Chuck had decided that weekend off was the best way to recharge the batteries.

"Hey, there you are. How's the project going?"

Chuck looked up to see Ted Roark standing there and the far end of the office and walking his way. One thing about Ted, everybody knew when he was coming, Ted was loud, and not just his dress sense.

"Boy's, I've read your reports and I must say I'm impressed by your progress, I've come down to give my appreciation. What do you say that we have a drink?"

"We were thinking of having a quick one at Bennigan's. You know, one for the road then heading off for the weekend."

"Forget Bennigan's, lets head up to the executive suites for drinks instead."

Rodney and Chuck showed a little hesitation.

"The drinks are cheaper in the suites," Ted persuaded "I should know, I'm always signing the invoices, which means I'm buying."

"Sure thing Ted."

At the executive suites Ted introduced Chuck to other executives and managers that Chuck hadn't previously met, it was a small crowd having what would appear to be a quiet Friday night end of the week drinks before the weekend. Chuck and Rodney were hob nobbling with the big boys of the company and having a very pleasant time of it. It was Ted Roark who would make a grandstand effect and talk over the top of everyone present to address the computer nerd.

"I do business dealings all over the world and the one thing that you notice when you return to the US is how the place isn't happening any more. As one Australian put it "America is full of glass towers but it's all old architecture, there's been nothing new built for thirty years, the country is in decline and it just doesn't realise it."

"Is that the kind of America you want, Chuck?"

"No."

"We saved the Iraqis from Saddam Hussein, and do we get any thanks for that? Hell no those bastards want to kill us. The free world should be grateful, are they grateful?"

"No."

"The system doesn't work, it's broken, and we should do something about it. Do you want to do something about it, Chuck?"

"Yes I do, but what can I do."

"You can join us Chuck, use those skills of yours and together we can help build a better America. An America that bows to no-one."

"Yes No one!"

"Darn right! An America that will tell those Europhiles that it is we who are calling the shots? You agree with me?"

"Yes I do!"

Do you want an America that won't be held to ransom for the oil that we need to keep our industry running and the jobs flowing?"

"Too right I do."

A country that take no shit from any terrorist. Are you with us Chuck? Are you?"

"You bet I am! Where do I sign!"

Progress in the Intersect that Roark was building was approaching the testing stage and they would soon be screening for candidates. Chuck and his team had started tendered out contracts relating to project. The trick for Chuck and his team was to write parameters in the documents so that each contract was only a small part of the big overall project. It would take a very smart operator to put all the pieces of the together to create the big picture.

This lead to a very hectic couple of months for Chuck, he was basically working 24/7 dealing with phone calls, interviews and submissions. This morning Chuck was required to be at a meeting with a venture capital firm in the guise of putting a deal together. Normally Chuck tended to avoid meetings as it soaked up his time and he usually felt that his attendance was never necessary. As it was he didn't like having to deal with venture capitalists, to him they were parasites, he also thought of them as if they were vultures willing to pick the fresh off an idealistic geek and then legally steal his ideas.

But today, Ted Roark had requested that he chair the meeting with a Silicon Valley start up company that Chuck had never heard of. The Email from Ted was brief, Chuck was required to assess the merit of this firm and decide if there any benefit to the company. He was the last one to walk into the lower floor meeting room, higher floors were reserved for meetings of greater importance, as he entered the room he couldn't help but notice and incredible attractive blonde woman wearing a tailored blue business suit and a white silk blouse. She was breathtakingly beautiful and he temporarily failed to notice the other visitor seated at the table. He must have been staring as he kept his gaze on her for too long. This vision of loveliness started to stare back at him so it made him look away. That's when he noticed who was sitting beside her.

It was none other than Bryce Larkin. Bryce had had a haircut and cut a good figure in his suit but Chuck was not going to be fooled. Knowing what he did about Bryce he decided there on the spot that Roark would not deal with this organization. Not acknowledging his old friend Chuck continued to walk past the table and then pulled out his phone and hit a pre-dialled number. He stood in the corner facing out the window and spoke a few words into his phone. The call was short but Chuck stayed in his spot for and extra minute before turning and walking straight out the door. Chuck passed the security guards as he did so. Bryce and his blonde colleague looked at each other for a moment then the guards spoke to them.

"Can you remove yourselves from the building as quick as possible please."

"Excuse us, We've here for a meeting."

"Not anymore, you meeting is over!"

Chuck had rung security to throw the pair out. Not having a choice Bryce and his partner got out of their seats and were escorted by four guards out of the building.

The two evictees stopped and faced each other about twenty yards away from the front doors of the building.

"What the fuck was that all about?" the attractive blonde asked the team leader Bryce Larkin.

"Seems like he hasn't forgiven me!" Bryce mused.

"Forgiven you? Why, what do you do?"

"Framed him back in college, well he did steal my girl!"

"He stole you girl so you framed him. Why didn't you mention it vital little fact before?" Sarah raised an eyebrow at her business partner.

"I didn't think it was important. It was so long ago."

"Apparently it is. I though you stole other guy's girls not the other way around?"

"Are you giving me a hard time Miss Walker?" he pouted.

"You poor boy!" she said sarcastically, "How about I buy you a coffee and you can tell me all about it."

The two of them went over to the coffee shop and ordered coffees, Sarah paid for both, now armed with their coffees the pair sat down at a table outside the shop.

"You have you coffee now spill."

Bryce looked deeply into her eyes, unlike Sarah who kept her past private, Bryce was more open into telling stories and tales of his past

"Just before my senior year and I was going to spend the break at 'The Farm' at Langley, I was having relationship problems with my girlfriend. Of course I couldn't tell her about where I was going nor would I be able to contact her while I was there.

Anyway by the time I returned to Sandford, Chuck had stolen my girl. I got in after travelling by bus across the country and found Chuck and Jill going hard at it on the island bench in the kitchen. They had the stereo on so they didn't hear me enter the house. I watched them for a little bit, I was dumbfounded, so I turned around and then went outside, I waited until I knew someone had adjusted the music so I knew they weren't still at it. I only showed myself when they had finished."

"So how did you feel catching them in the act?"

"I was numb to be honest. I remembered my instructors at the Farm saying that I should start cutting deep personal attachments during my final year because that would make the transition to an agent easier."

"So I take it you didn't fight for her?"

"You may claim I'm narcissistic, but I figured that letting her go now was for the best. I made an appearance a few hours later after both of them had dressed, she greeted me as if nothing untoward had happened with Chuck and she gave me a big hug and a really passionate kiss.

Later on to mess with their minds we were in the kitchen and there was some food crumbs on the island bench so I made the comment that the bench was so dirty I would not be surprised to find cockroaches fucking on it."

"You're a class act." Sarah said looking down at her near empty cup.

"That night we had that talk, and it was over."

Bryce sighed then added "It's a dog eat dog world out here in the real world."

"So. What are we going to do next?"

Bryce pulled out the flyer he had taken from the lobby before the cancelled meeting. It was a corporate games challenge and Bryce knew the Roark liked his basketball.

"I'll challenge Roark to a basketball match and insist that Bartowski will play, I'll tell Roark how good Chuck's ball skills were at college and we will talk to him then.

"I've got a better idea, just leave it to me."

Roark was amused that Chuck had thrown Bryce and his team out so early in a meeting.

"I think that's a new record you set in there Chuck!" Roark said while holding a tumbler of his favourite malt whisky. "What the hell went on in there?"

"When I saw that it was my old college fiend "Bryce Larkin" in there I knew that nothing he had was worth looking at. Bryce Larkin is a snake oil salesman of the worst kind."

Ted slapped Chuck on his back and laughed as they made their way back to the executive suites.

 **Thank you for all the reviews, it inspires me.**


	3. Chapter 3 Cheryl and the Intersect

**Thank you for reading my tale so far. It has been fun to write and I've enjoyed the reviews. A warning as this chapter includes an gratuitous sex scene.**

"So, do you have a girlfriend?" The pretty brunette asked Chuck. Ellie had invited to her to one of her now notorious parties and in the hope of trying to set up her brother Chuck. She was giving him a really cute and innocent look. However, Chuck got the feeling that she was far from innocent.

"Well, I used to. We were dating for several years while in college, but our collective jobs dragged us to different sides of the country and we both got too involved with our work projects, so any commitment between us was put on the backburner. So it sort of fizzled out so we mutually agreed to call it a day and to date other people to see who else is out there." He paused and softly spoke, "She got a new boyfriend straight away."

She grinned coquettishly. "So how is your search going so far?"

Chuck gave back his own suggestive grin. "The search is going very well. I can definitely say that Ellie has good taste in friends. In fact I've narrowed the search down to one girl, if you know what I mean." With that he did an eyebrow dance.

That got a giggle out of Cheryl, a second year nurse that he had just been introduced to by Ellie.

"I think so. You've definitely got a charm about you that I find very attractive," with that she followed with a gesture of placing her hand on his shoulder then slowly sliding her hand down his arm. "So, how about we skip out early on the party and I can find a birthday gift to give you?"

 _Oh, this is too good. Do I take the gift, or face Ellie's wrath?_ "Ellie is going to kill me for sneaking away from my own birthday party, but I believe you're worth the pain. She'll forgive me."

Together they sneaked out of the party and got into her car for the short drive to her residence.

"Come on Chuck," she encouraged. "Let's go up to my place."

Chuck didn't want to presume but he was hopeful about what they were going up for. "To talk some more," he stuttered nervously, understanding a little better how a cornered mouse felt.

"Among other things," she replied, shooting him seductive glance before exiting the car.

Chuck was stunned for a moment; this beautiful woman seemed to be willing to have sex with him, and without going on a date no less. He shook his head to clear his mind, thinking he must have misheard her, or read something wrong. Still he did enjoy her company and so he too exited the car, eager to prolong the evening.

He caught up to Cheryl as she waited for him at the foot of the stairs. "You had me worried for a minute," she said teasingly as she started to climb. Chuck could admire the view looking up her long legs and short skirt; it was a promise of things to come.

"Sorry about that," he told her as he climbed the stairs behind her. "Just lost in a thought."

"What sort of thought?" she questioned. "You're not going to bail out on me?"

"No, no of course not," he said quickly, her musical laugh informing him that she had been kidding. "Just… well, from what you said… it sounded like you invited me up here for… sex."

"I have," Cheryl stated plainly, causing Chuck to swallow. "It's not something I usually do, but I have a good vibe about you Chuck, and I wasn't quite ready for our night to end."

Cheryl had not seen such a prefect imitation of a goldfish before, and she thought it was rather adorable. Taking advantage of Chuck's stunned state, she pounced upon him like a lioness, pressing him against the wall and kissing him passionately. The way he froze up, she was worried that she may have misread him, but then he surprised her and returned her kiss with a fire equal to her own as he placed his hands on her hips and pulled her body closer to his own.

She could barely touch the floor as the tall man's embrace caused them to stumble the entire way to her door as they did everything in their power to remain attached at the lips. However as they got to her door, with her back pressed against the wall as she and Chuck continue to kiss while she fumbled through her handbag for her keys, she felt the curly haired man move his hand away from her hip and venture upwards, slipping underneath her blouse, coming into contact with her breast.

Eyes widening in realisation, Cheryl's nimble hands found the purpose they needed to stop messing around and find her keys, unlocking the door quickly and almost causing the couple to fall backwards as they stumbled through the entrance, breaking their kiss.

"Why don't you just sit down for a bit," Cheryl said breathlessly. "I'm just going to freshen up a bit."

Chuck just nodded numbly as his date made her way to the bathroom, his eyes never leaving her retreating form until it was blocked from sight by the bathroom door. The sound the door made as it closed seemed to return some of Chuck's senses to him and began the long process habit of over thinking things.

But then the bathroom door opened and out walked Cheryl wearing nothing but a sexy smile and Chuck decided, as he gazed at what could only be described as perfection, that he didn't really care anymore if this was a dream or not.

His eyes were drawn to the sight of her naked body, from her soft tanned skin to her perfectly sized breasts and erect nipples, to her completely shaved pussy and her fantastically long legs. "God you're absolutely beautiful," he couldn't help but whisper in reverence.

Cheryl's smile widened at the compliment.

"Looks like you're a little overdressed Chuck," she said, sexily striding over to where he stood. "I think we need to do something about that, don't you?"

Chuck just mutely nodded, as Cheryl began undoing the buttons of his shirt at a teasingly slow pace, letting the garment hang loosely on his shoulders when her hands had completed that task and moved on undoing his belt buckle. As more of his senses returned to him and he realised that yes, this actually was happening, he shrugged off his shirt as Cheryl allowed his pants and silk boxers to drop around his ankles. As he kicked off his shoes and socks and stepped out of the pooled clothing, his beautiful date eyed him with lustful appreciation. "Mmm," she hummed while licking her lips, causing the curly haired nerd to blush at her blatant ogling. The chest hair was new for her, and she had to admit, definitely not unpleasant. Guess there was something in it to trying new things.

"Lay down on the bed," she all but commanded, eager to get things started.

She was pleased to see that Chuck did just that, Chuck settled himself on his back on the bed with his head resting on the pillow, Cheryl knelt in front of him concentrating on the part of his antimony that was very happy to see her. After giving his hard on a lot of attention and he was now slippery wet she crawled on top of him. She slowly wiggled down until they were coupled at the waist. Chuck could feel the warmth of her pussy as it slowly encased his manhood. Another bout of heavy kissing then they start to grind their bodies together.

"Mmm," she hummed in delight, "God you feel amazing."

"I'm here to please!"

"Oh yes Chuck," she cried in ecstasy as their bodies began to move in rhythm with one another. "Yes Chuck just like that… oh God… oo yeah, oo yeah."

Chuck could only watch as his date's body respond to the pleasure they were giving each other, she shook due to what he could only assume was a very intense orgasm. He then felt a surge from his never regions of his own orgasm approaching. He then manoeuvred her so he could get access from behind. Chuck loved doggie style the best. It didn't take long pumping into her to reach his own climax. He thanked his lucky stars that he always keeps a condom in his wallet.

He took pride for his efforts in making such a gorgeous woman climax so hard, and had to shift his hands towards her midsection, supporting his body as Chuck came down from his own orgasm and slumped over her, his head resting against her back.

"God I wish I could keep you," she murmured quietly, the weight of Chuck on top of her caused her to have her head buried in her pillow which muffled the sound of her voice.

Chuck was having his own thoughts, it wasn't very often that he had sex with some stranger that he met at Ellie's party.

"Okay." Chuck started. "I certainly didn't have any expectations that a guy like me could be screwing, um You know."

"What?"

"Um you know, you?"

"What about me?"

"You're really going to make me say it, aren't you? You- wow, okay. Fine. All right, we'll play it your way. A girl like you. Or more appropriately, a woman like you and a sexy one at that. Not to mention cool and extremely beautiful."

"Well, you're not so bad yourself."

"Please. I'm fantastic."

"Yeah. You are."

"Right, Let's go again" Chuck responded, placing his arms around Cheryl in comfort, a gesture that was not resisted by the brunette. Round two was much slower than the first as the initial thrill of making love to a stranger had gone away. They did their best to familiarise each other's body, finding what got a response and what didn't.

"You seemed to be taking your time, then I take it you were enjoying yourself?"

"Absolutely," he exclaimed looking her.

"You're very good at what you do."

"I'm glad," Chuck told her, before glancing at the clock on the bedside table. "Well, I guess… I better get going."

It was really the last thing he wanted to do, but he did need to get to the trade fair the next day, and he didn't want to wear out his welcome either. However as he tried to move off the bed, he found that Cheryl wasn't exactly being cooperative in letting him up.

"Um…" she murmured into his chest again, seemingly a bit embarrassed."You could always stay here for the night… you can just shower here in the morning before work and pick up your clothes from your place afterwards."

"Maybe I can stay a bit longer," he stated with a grin.

Cheryl grinned as well as his words perked her up. "Great," she said with barely contained joy. "And it also means we can have more sex."

It was very early in the morning, and Chuck was taking in the fresh morning air as he walked home. He had a great time with Cheryl, and wished that he could have spent the entire night. However, he had presentations all the next day. That meant he had to make up time to keep to their schedule and deadline for their Intersect.

Chuck's cell phone buzzed and it bought him out of his musings. He saw that it was Ellie, and was hesitant to answer it. Ellie had been called in for an emergency so she was already up and about. He didn't want to get chewed out by not answering, but it would be even worse if he delayed.

"Hey, sis...Oh, I had a great time. I really appreciate the time and effort you put into celebrating my birthday...Your friend, Cheryl, wanted to show me something at her place...Yes, I mean sex...It was just some fun...If we ever follow up, I have her phone number...I actually have a series of trade fair presentations all day, so I'm on the way home now to get an hour or two sleep...Yeah...Listen, I'm nearly home now, so thanks for the party, and I'll help you clean up after work. Bye, Ellie."

The conversation had taken Chuck from the street all the way back to his apartment. He walked inside and then straight to his bedroom and flopped onto his bed. Two hours later his alarm went off and he got ready for work, but decided to check his e-mail before going to the shower.

"Hm, an e-mail from Bryce. How considerate of him. I'll read it later."


	4. Chapter 4 Sarah fools Chuck

**AN: Thank you for your reviews. The gratutious sex scene was included for a upcoming scene in this instalment. Hope you enjoy**

Chapter 4: Sarah Fools Chuck

Chuck's main job was as a lead programmer on the Roark Intersect project, however a directive from the top of Roark Instruments, he also had to do major corporate events like trade shows. That means that every once in a while he has to represent the company to give talks on the new software and hardware that Roark Instruments released. Today he had a series of presentations at a trade show in Culver City.

It was a real change on routine for him to do these trade fairs because it took him away from his job, but Chuck realized that it may be good to do once in a while to help him refocus away from Intersect problems. And he was glad to see his childhood friend, Morgan Grimes from the Buy More Corporation, his company was also a major exhibitor at the fair.

"Dude, where were you last night? You up and disappeared. Ellie was wondering what happened to you." Morgan had honed in on Chuck as soon as he stepped through the doors and made a beeline toward his friend.

"Oh, well, I met someone and one thing led to another," Chuck answered with a sheepish grin.

"You nailed that cute brunette?" he gave Chuck a slap on the back, "Congratulations. Anyways, great party as always. Ellie really outdid herself. I tried to show my appreciation, but she just hustled me out of the courtyard."

As the two friends chatted, they made their way to the location where the Buy More and Roark exhibits were. The two companies had adjoining sites so throughout the day the friends would roamed across each other's site. Morgan always made sure to listen as Chuck gave his presentations and answer questions from the audience. Chuck after fielding questions, would direct interested buyers to Morgan's Buy More counter. The Buy More was offering special trade discounts and Morgan would take commissions from the goods he sold. Chuck didn't mind if his buddy made thousands in commissions, he like to help his friends get ahead.

Across town the Casa Bartowski was hosting some uninvited guests, Sarah and Bryce had entered via the bedroom window that Chuck normally leaves slightly opened. They move quickly and quietly checking to see if anyone in home. The apartment was still and after a thorough search they had the place to themselves.

"There's his PC, check if he opened my Email?"

Sarah reached around the back of the machine and disconnected the Wifi. Just in case Chuck machine sends a signal to its owner warning him someone is accessing his files. After booting the machine up she clicked the icon for Chuck's emails. The two spies could see that Bryce's email was still unopened.

"He hasn't opened it!" she said.

"At least he didn't delete it" was Bryce's reply

"Just how big of falling out did you two have?"

"It's a need to know!"

Sarah looked at the whiteboard Chuck had mounted in his room, it was a covered in Post-it notes and there was one for today. "Trade fair presentations" 9 til 2.

Both of the spies rifled through some of Chuck's stuff to get some insight into his character. "I'm not sure how much this guy makes, but I think his wardrobe desperately needs updating." Sarah smirked at Bryce's comment, Bryce was a stylish dresser when he wasn't in his spy kit.

Bryce was looking through Chuck's bedside drawers. His search revealed a drawer full of comics and some prescription creams, over the counter painkillers and an opened packet of condoms. As Bryce checked through the comics, his pulled one out and shoved it into his back pocket.

"Bryce! What are you doing?"

"Just taking back what is rightfully mine. I bought this comic at Stanford years ago. I hadn't seen it since Chuck left. Now I know he pinched it!"

"Bryce, Grow up!"

Bryce looked at her with a hurt look then gave her a wink.

"So why do we want this guy?"

"The Omaha Project."

Bryce let that comment sink in. Sarah looked at him in bewilderment.

"You know why we haven't got the project to succeed, it's because none of the candidates could meet the standard required for it. The fault with this project is that you need a candidate with an unbelievable level of data retention."

"But, that level requires a candidate with mythical qualities."

"Chuck Bartowski has those mythical qualities. Bartowski not only meet the standard he raised the bar, so to speak. He once betrayed me so I erased his records from Sandford, CIA didn't know about him but I do."

"Well he better be worth it."

"He will be Sarah, he will be."

Sarah left Bryce to catch some sort of computer presentation. She was already annoyed with her partner as she drove out of the parking lot and onto the freeway.

Chuck was ending his presentation on the latest RIO compatible software to a small crowd who had gathered around the Roark Instruments podium.

"So if there are no more questions, I'll let you all go and experience the trade fair. I'll be doing the same presentation every hour, If you are interested in buying any of the equipment discussed from my presentation then make your way over to my good friend Morgan Grimes of the Buy More who is offered huge trade fair discounts. So if there is nothing more else you want me to discuss enjoy the rest of your day."

There was no questions forthcoming, the crowd dispersed, many headed over to the Buy more counter where Morgan was waiting. About twenty minutes later, Chuck and Morgan were alone at Morgan's counter.

"Is there any news on the Roark 7? That's got to be the one that will take the lead in laptop speed and performance ahead of Microsoft and Apple."

"Morgan, that's not going to be out until late next year, we're still in design and developing stage. Testing is still months away."

"Are you working on it?"

"Not my department!" Chucked laughed.

A smirk made its way to Chuck's face. _If only you knew._ "Well, I _am_ working on a highly advanced computer that is hopefully going to have an effect on the world. But for the Roark 7 itself, I'm mostly working on some software stuff. However, I can't say much else about my work. Sorry buddy, I have to stay vague, it's highly classified. Or else some corporate spy might find out what we're doing."

"Alright, you don't have to be all cloak and dagger about it. Whoa, it's Vicki Vale." Morgan saw her approach, she was stunningly beautiful and Morgan suddenly lost the ability to speak.

"Vicki Vale, Vicki Vale, Vickity Vickity Vicki Vale-" Chuck was too busy reorganising his stuff for the next presentation to see the beautiful blonde appear in front of him. Then he saw her. "Uh, hi."

"I hope I wasn't interrupting anything." Sarah gave Chuck a smile that sent his brain into neutral and his heart pounding.

"Ah, no. That was from Batman." Morgan finding the ability to speak again.

"And that's supposed to make it better?"

"Um, hi. I'm Morgan," he said standing as tall as he could. "And my tall mute friend here is Chuck."

"Wow, I didn't know people still named their kids Chuck and Morgan."

"Could be worst. They could have named me Bryce or Sam." Morgan climed back "They are both tri-hard names, like Carina and Sarah if you were a girl."

"And you are-" Chuck finally managed to engage his tongue, cut back in.

"Sarah."

Chuck and Morgan looked at each other and Morgan began to physically strink. They didn't know whether to laugh or not. Was she joking and got one on them or was she really was a Sarah.

"Well, Sarah," Chuck started trying to regain face and not to giggle at Morgan's discomfort, "Was there anything you wanted to know about the software upgrades for the R6 Alpha?"

Getting asked a tech question disengaged her tongue. Then Chuck thought he recognised her.

"Were you part of a meeting I cancelled the other day?"

Busted, quick think fast.

"Yes, that was me. It is a trade fair and I am in the industry. What are you doing here?"

"Well if you had got here earlier you would have seen my presentation on the R6 Alpha."

"I'm sorry I missed it."

"Well, I'm doing another presentation on the hour."

There was a slight pause as all three looked at one another, when the pause started to become uncomfortable Sarah broke the ice.

"Look Chuck, I really want you to have a look at our proposal, just the outline, I'll even throw in dinner. Can we do dinner tonight? That is, if you're free."

"Yes, he is! He's totally free!" Morgan chipped in.

Chuck turned back to her. "Apparently, I'm totally free."

"Great, you can pick me up at seven at my hotel!" handing him her business card, while keeping eye contact with Chuck.

"Okay, seven o'clock it is."

"Feast or famine," Chuck said to Morgan as they watched Sarah walk away and disappear into the trade fair crowd.

Chuck would have to make sure that any traces of Cheryl's scent from last night was not on him when he goes to pick this beautiful blond woman up.

After his last presentation of the day he decided to catch up with the latest developments back at work. Chuck walked into his office at Roark Instruments and was not surprised when he found out that Rodney Barnes was away ill. It was a familiar pattern, Rodney always took time off when Chuck wasn't in the office.

He logged on and started reviewing the latest data files that his program testers had created. He could hear that one of his staff was big mouthing himself again, what's with that guy, can't we all get along. There were other voices now and the voices were getting louder.

He was going to have to put a stop to it. He left his office and approached the noise. Harry Tang was the main culprit, it was always Harry Tang. Harry was an excitable Korean and he had small man syndrome, he would never back down even when he was proven wrong, which was most of the time.

"Haven't you guys got work to do? Tang, go get me a coffee!" Chuck barked.

Having Rodney away and spending most of the day at the trade fair there was little use for Chuck to stay late at work. Remembering that he had a dinner date with a beautiful woman put a smile on his face. I better get home to clean up in case I manage to get this one home for the night. He locked his office, walked past his co workers and headed out the door. He noticed that Tang had picked another argument but he wasn't going to break it up. He had a date of sorts and he didn't want to waste his energy on the office jerk.

"So yeah I live with my sister and her boyfriend Captain Awesome," Chuck explained to her, continuing to give details about his life to the secret agent.

"No," Sarah laughed, finding the nickname quite amusing.

"It's true though," he said, merriment in his eyes and a pleased look at getting her to laugh.

If only he knew what a real achievement that was. "So wait, wait, you call him Captain Awesome?"

"Yeah wait till you meet him," he told her, as he noticed her smile widened. "Everything he does is awesome; climbing mountains, jumping out of planes… flossing."

She laughed again at his description of his sister's boyfriend. "That's funny," she couldn't help but comment.

Chuck smiled to himself, glad to see that his date seemed to be enjoying herself. "Well I'm a funny guy," he stated with humour in his voice.

"Clearly...which is good, 'cause I am not funny." Sarah said as she shook her head.

"Is that your big secret, by the way? Cause I'm sitting here, trying to figure out what's wrong with you?"

"Oh, plenty. Believe me."

"And I was thinking, maybe she's a cannibal or she's really not that funny. And I was pulling for cannibal 'cause I never met one before."

"Uh, not a cannibal. But I just did come out of a long relationship so I may come with baggage."

"Well, I could be your very own baggage handler!" Chuck couldn't believe he just said that.

Sarah was laughing when she asked, "So, what about you? What skeletons do you have in your closet? Any secrets? Any women?"

"Uh, yeah, yeah. Actually, back in college, there was someone, but that's all over with now. And her restraining orders are very specific!" he laughs and Sarah laughs along with the joke.

"Ah hum."

Chuck and Sarah both look up to see a pissed off brunette standing by their table.

"Cheryl?" Chuck said out of surprise.

"You said you were gonna call. I thought you and I had something going!"

Chuck was dumbfounded, what were the chances of being spied at a restaurant by a woman you had casual sex with just the night before? He didn't know how to handle this; he passed a quick look at Sarah then back to Cheryl before finding something interesting on the table to look at. Cheryl realising she was intruding and was not going to get a satisfactory answer out of Chuck walked off in a huff.

When she was gone and out of earshot Sarah replied "Wow; you have your very own stalker!"

Chuck feeling embarrassed sat quietly sipping on his drink.

After a pause Chuck realised he had to save this date before it spiralled out of control and he ended up crashed and burned. Think of a safe topic.

"So, do you like music?"

"I guess."

"You guess? What's your favorite band?"

Chuck was waiting for a response by one wasn't coming from Sarah as she was unable to answer his question. She took a slip of her drink then apologised "God, I am not funny, I don't listen to music. This must be your worst date ever, right."

"Chuck? I was waiting for you to say no."

"Sorry, sorry, I kind a zoned out there for a second. No, no, no, no. God, no. I, uh, I've had, I've had much, much worse, uh, much worse dates. I'm just glad you haven't tried to sell me some time share or insurance."

"I'm not trying to sell you anything!"

"Woo, that's a relief, Roark takes care of his employees, has a generous pension plan, so I don't need to worry that far into the future."

"I don't date all that much." She said.

"You're kidding. A beautiful girl like you staying home on Saturday night?"

"Not many men have the nerve to ask me out, you didn't, I asked you if you remember."

"That's right, I don't date much either, I'm usually too involved with work."

They looked at each other and both took a sip from their drinks.

"So how come you are in business with Bryce? You know the guy is a complete tool!"

"Wow. You really don't like him do you."

"He got me kicked out of Stanford. He set me up. Right at the end of my final year."

"So did you ever complete your degree?"

"I did. At Berkeley."

"Good for you. Now I would like you to have a quick look at our proposal." With that comment she pulled a document out of her handbag. She handed it to Chuck and as a matter of courtesy he had a glancing look through it.

"You know," she said, "There is a much more detailed document in an Email Bryce sent you."

"So that is what he sent me on my private Email."

"Have you looked at it?" knowing that he hadn't.

"No. But it is on my to do list when I get home." He said smiling at her.

"I hope you bed sheets are clean!"

Chuck's jaw dropped, "You're joking aren't you?"

"Maybe, maybe not." Sarah flirted at him whilst she took a sip from her drink.

 _The terrible troll raises it's sword._ Great, how does that go again?"

Chuck pondered his hero satchel for a couple of moments before coming to the answer. He typed in _'Attack with nasty knife.'_

Sarah knew what would happen so she turned her head away.

After entering his answer, images started to bombard his brain from the computer screen.

Bryce got an incoming call, it was Sarah at the other end of the line.

"I've got him to open the email. Yes he has downloaded it. No he not conscious at the moment, he's flat on the floor."

"How did you get him to do it?"

"I told you I was the best in the business. Now do you believe me?"

"Sorry Chuck, love may be love but espionage is espionage." She hurriedly undressed him down to his underpants before dragging him onto the bed. She was thankful that Chuck was slim. After reaching into his bedside drawers she pulled out his box of condoms and removed two of them. "You really are quite cute," she muttered as she tore open both of the packets, shoving the flimsy latex in her pocket and leaving the wrappers on the drawers.

She retrieved a small bottle of perfume from her bag and sprayed it around the bed. Finally she pulled the covers up; satisfied with her trickery, she gathered her things and left Chuck sleeping.

It wasn't until she got to the car park when she realised her mistake, she had no car, Chuck picked her up and it was his car that got them around for the evening. She could either hail a cab or get Bryce to give her a lift, she chose the latter.

Bryce turned up ten minutes later and found Sarah standing by the kerb. He pulled up and Sarah got in the passenger side, Bryce had the heater on which Sarah was grateful.

"How you go?"

"Great. He'll wake up thinking we had sex last night."

"And did you?"

"If we did, I'd be warmly snuggled up in bed with him not waiting outside in the cold for you to get me."

As professional as always, Bryce thought of his partner and he pulled a sly grin.

 **Please review, I like to know your feedback.**


	5. Chapter 5 Chuck has the Intersect

**AN: I hope you all are well. Here is a bit of Halloween reading for you.**

Chapter 5 Chuck has the Intersect

"What sort of fallout did you two have?" Sarah said to Bryce.

"Do you think it matters, it was a long time ago."

"Well it still seems fresh in Chuck's mind. I've heard of some grudges in my time but this is a biggy."

Bryce was not the sort of man that dwells in the past, which was why he was so good at this line of work. The way Bryce journeyed through life, he never took a backward step, all pushing onwards, and never looking back to check for any damage he caused. Maybe Sarah had a right to know.

"I met Chuck when I was in my sophomore year at Sandford, Chuck was a freshman and after a chance meeting in the college grounds we hit it off. His friendly manner and easy going nature belies the fact he is incredible intelligent man. Once he got over his initial shyness, he seemed too be able to glide through the different college societies; you won't find anyone with a bad word about him.

So after the CIA recruiters left the campus and returned to Langley I was contacted by a man claiming to be Chuck's father. He knew all about me, my records at school and more frightening my past. He said that the government was zeroing in on his son for the Omaha project. He said back then it would never work. He said that Professor Fleming was a CIA recruiter so he wanted me to steer Chuck clear of him. He said that you had to have a special aptitude to be an agent but Chuck didn't have it. He feared Chuck would end up killed or worst. If I did as he asked he would give me a blue 69 Mustang.

I wasn't paying too much attention on what Chuck was into, but I was furious with myself when I found out that Chuck was in one of Professor Fleming's classes. I knew I had to do something when Chuck told me about the testing and how well he went. His results were off the charts and I needed to something drastic to stop Fleming from forwarding the results to the CIA. I got lucky, I bugged his office and car, I found out the Fleming was having an affair with a student. If I exposed him he would have lost his job. It was a simple case of blackmail, I gave Fleming the originals but I had made copies.

I wasn't too worried about Chick because I knew Roark Instruments had made him an offer. It is far better for him to work for private industry than the government."

"And now you've tricked him into downloading the Intersect!"

"That my dear was you. You tricked him into downloading the Intersect."

The next morning, Chuck's alarm clock woke up slowly. The headache currently throbbing in his skull felt worse than any hangover he could remember. " _How much did I have to drink last night?"_ It took an effort to gingerly pushed himself up in bed, his senses began breaking through the fog to send information to his brain. He could smell perfume all around him, which was usually a good sign. While he couldn't feel any body heat, his eyes noticed the two torn condom wrappers; another good sign, he thought with a smirk. Finally, he got his eyes wide open. He was definitely alone, he was overcome with disappointment, he had one night stands before, the night before but that really wasn't his thing. He stayed in bed a little longer before he carefully swung his feet over the side of his bed and looked down at the rumpled suit lying on his floor. His stumbled his way to have a shower.

Had he checked on his computer he would have found that Bryce's email had completely wiped his hard drive. All of Chuck's personal files and programs had been erased.

While he was scrubbing away the activity of last night, last night he couldn't remember much about last night. He went on a date with a beautiful woman that he somehow got back to his place and that's where his memory failed him. Then an irrational fear took him, maybe she date raped him, slipped him something in his drink and then …..

He quickly checked his apartment, nothing appeared to be missing, well nothing obvious and he could feel himself calming down. He went to the kitchen and made himself a coffee then he sat in one of the lounge chairs. He heard his front door begin to open so he looked up to see who was coming through the door. It was the girl he was with last night and she was carrying something in a brown paper bag.

Chuck has his first ever flash, the girl's face triggered something in his brain and now he knows all about, Elana Truffaut. This girl is a trained assassin for the CIA. She had infiltrated an inner circle of a golden arms dealer and killed them all at a dinner party. She killed them with poison and now she is here with a bag full of pastries.

Unfortunately for Chuck, Sarah was looking straight at him when he flashed, she recognized it immediately, she had seem other test agents flash back at the Omaha labs.

He was scared. Sarah had come over and invaded his personal space. She straddled Chuck in his chair, with her butt resting on his knees and her arms resting firmly on his shoulders.

Sarah being in a position of dominance cast her deep blue eyes into Chuck's brown orbs.

"I'm going to ask you a series of questions and I want you to answer then as truthfully as you can. If you are unable to answer them verbally then I want you to nod or shake your head."

She could see fear in his eyes as he understood what she said and so he gave a simple nod.

"Chuck, last night you opened an email from Bryce Larkin, inside that email contained pictures, lots of pictures, those pictures that you saw were encoded with secrets. Government secrets. If you saw them, then you know them."

"There were thousands of them."

"That's right, many thousands of pictures, each containing bits of data that you can recall and make sense out off."

"Is that bad?"

"Chuck you have downloaded the US Government's Intersect."

"What is a intersect?"

"The intersect is a database where the NSA and the CIA shared their intel. After 9/11 both agencies were told to play nice and ordered to share their intelligence. Every scrap of data they had went into this computer. It searches for mindful patterns and chatter. All the things we did. The data was encrypted into thousands of images. Whoever received Bryce's email gets all of our governments secrets. That means you!"

"That means me, what does that mean for me?"

"It means that you have all of our Government's secrets. The information inside your head is priceless. The trick is how to access it all."

"And how do I access it all?" Chuck asked.

"Unfortunately it is retrieved by random triggers, you might see or hear something and it will flash you the information. I know you had a flash when I walked in just before. I could see it in your face." Out of nowhere she pulled a throwing knife and made sure Chuck was aware of it. "Now Chuck; you're going to tell me exactly what you saw about me, don't try to leave details out because I will know, okay?"

He was nervous when he started to speak; "You are Elana Truffaut. You are a trained assassin for the CIA. You went to a dinner party with French diplomats and you killed them all. The poison you used was cyanide based."

Sarah smiled at him, "Very good, Elana was only a cover name, you can call me Sarah. You deserve a pastry"

Chuck went wide eyed with fear.

"It's alright, these aren't poisoned!" she said as she took a pastry out of the bag. "They're freshly baked." As she took a bite, Chuck looked as if he wasn't convinced, so she pulled a bit off and shoved it in his mouth, Chuck chewed away hoping she was right.

"See told you" she smiled as she took another bite.

The front door opened and Ellie returned home from a nightshift, Chuck could feel Sarah tense up and she turn her torso in the direction of the door, he grabbed her right hand as he thought she would reach for her throwing knife, he didn't want Ellie impaled in her own home.

Ellie sees Chuck with a blond, "You're not Cheryl?"

Chuck spoke, "Ar no. This is Elana, sorry Sarah, Sarah Walker." He got her name wrong. Must have still been recalling data from the flash.

Sarah climbed out of Chuck's lap and proceeded across the floor to the Bartowski sibling and offered her hand. Ellie took it and gave a polite shake. She looked deep into Sarah's eyes and wondered.

"So who are you and how do you know my brother?"

Chuck didn't hear Sarah's reply, he was recovering from a flash he had on his sister's voice. He hoped Sarah didn't notice as she was crossing the room at the time. What he saw was some old black and white photos of a laboratory and a group of scientists. In one shot was a young Ellenor dressed in a white lab coat and holding he fathers hand. Chuck never knew his father worked for the government, he was too young to remember if he had been told.

As he came back to his senses, he noticed the two women make their way to the kitchen and Ellie put the kettle on. Chuck noticed that the pastry bag was next to him, it had a large pastry inside it.

While the women talked Chuck couldn't resist eating the last pastry. He was shocked and embarrassed when Ellie called him out.

"The old adage is true; the way to a man's heart is through his stomach!" The two girls started laughing together, looks like Ellie approves of this one Chuck thought.

Chuck and Sarah departed the apartment an hour later after Ellis insisted in cooking a hot breakfast, both tried to object but they both relented by severe nagging.

They walked down the street to where Chuck had parked his company car. They were walking side by side and then Chuck reacted to Sarah stumbling, as he turned to steady her, her body seemed to lean forward and put both of them off balance. They both landed on the grass with Sarah somehow landing on top of Chuck. Chuck was thinking that Sarah was being playful, as he remembered the allusion of last night. He was giggling as he went to kiss her on the lips, when she didn't return the passion he was a little confused.

Three black SUVs put up at that moment and men in tactical gear all piled out and pointed some serious hardware at them. Chuck remained still on the spot, he was pinned by Sarah's body anyway. A huge unsympathetic man with a lit cigar walked up and blew smoke in his face. He pulled the tranq dart out of Sarah's back and then growled "Bag them".

Strong hands appeared and all Chuck could feel was a black calico bag being roughly pulled down over his head then feeling Sarah's body being pulled away before being pulled upright in a standing position only to feel the hard punch to his stomach that caused him to buckle over in pain.

Strong arms picked him up like a feather duster and practically threw him into a vehicle. As he landed he could hear men climb in after him and then he heard the engine rev and the vehicle starting to move away.

He tried to concentrate on listening to where they were going until a boot suddenly heeled him on the back of his thigh. He howled in pain as he rolled onto his front then he felt a prick on his backside and then he lost consciousness.

He could hear voices, not that it made any sense; he was still under the effect of whatever his kidnappers had given him. He regretted the involuntary grunt he made as he was coming to, it alerted his capturers of his arousal, as his brain reengaged with reality, and he still could not see anything because of the black calico bag over his head. Chuck's phobia's started to kick in, not only did he have a fear of needles and heights but he wasn't good in confined spaces.

He started to hyperventilate which caught the attention of his captors, he felt a strong hand on his right shoulder then the bag was removed, pulled roughly up over his head. Now he could see, he was sitting tied to a chair in a dimly lit room with Sarah seated next to him and several men in tactical gear surrounding them. In front of him was a large TV monitor with two stern looking people looking down on him.

Chuck didn't need to flash to know who these people were; their name plates were clearly displayed on their desks. Director Langston Graham of the CIA and General Diane Beckman of the NSA.

Chuck had felt he was totally humiliated by the treatment that was dished out to him by people representing the government. Next year I'll register to vote and vote these scumbags out. He was nervous about talking to the General and Director so he basically sat back and listened. He was relieved when Sarah spoke about assigning Bryce to protect him.

"That's not a good idea; there is a long history between Agent Larkin and Mr Bartowski and lot of animosity. I don't think having Agent Larkin near Mr Bartowski would be beneficial for the joint taskforce."

"Very well" said the General, "We'll have Major Casey as our Agency liaison on this project."

The Major grunted, Chuck sighed in disbelief, great he was going to be babysat by a burnt out psychopathic killer.

No one notice that Langston Graham was starting to brood. It was his project and he had just lost control of it.

The two agents arguing in front of him were doing nothing to allay his fears.

"Excuse me." Sarah and Casey were jolted out of their exchange and looked to Chuck. "There is a lot going on and it's going to take some time for me to adjust. But right now, I've got a very important project at Roark so I'm leaving. Who's going to take me home so I can get my car and go to work?"

When no lift was offered.

"Fine I grab a cab, now let me out of this place.

 _Alright Chuck. Everything will be fine. Just don't panic. Stay cool. Don't give them any hint that you're part of a secret organization that is trying to influence the United States government with extreme prejudice. Oh boy. This is bad. I'm going to jail. They're going to find out. No, they'll not. Just act self indignant. Maybe that will work._

Once he was finally released he caught a cab to his workplace. It was his sanctuary, Chuck had help build the firewall to secure the network, he was confident that no government snoop could hack their way in. He is in enough trouble with the two agencies taking control of his life.

He made it to Roark Instruments and proceeded to run through the lobby and to the elevator. He pressed the button and waited for it to come down. Chuck's jitteriness, however, made it hard for him to wait for the elevator that he just now noticed was extremely slow.

Chuck had hoped that his office would ease his nerves, but he was still on edge, he logged on and found he couldn't concentrate, as usual Harry Tang was making a racket, his co-workers were baiting him. Won't he ever shut up Chuck thought; he could feel a headache coming on and he hadn't had his morning coffee.

"Tang! Coffee! Now!" Chuck barked. "The rest of you guys, back to work!"

Evan the coffee couldn't calm Chuck down, Chuck spilt more than he drank, the last thing he needed was for Ted Roark knocking on his office door but there he was, sometimes that Hawaiian shirt could be too bright and annoying.

Ted could see something was amiss with Chuck, he was jittery, and he was shaking uncontrollablely.

"What's wrong Boy? Out with it?"

"I have an Intersect in my head!" Chuck began without preamble.

Ted looked at him in confusion. "I know."

"No, I mean, I have a new Intersect in my head."

"Did you make another one? I thought we were working on the micro updates so that _everyone_ can download an Intersect?"

Chuck took a deep breath and tried to order his thoughts. "No. What I mean to say is that an old college buddy of mine, who running a cover company that happened to be a CIA front, sent me the _government_ Intersect. I now have the Intersect the CIA and NSA was working on, but also our own Intersect. And now, I have two federal agents keeping watch on me. Ted, I'm freaking out." He ended his monologue in a frenzied rush.

A look or alarm and concern flashed over Ted's face before he said, "Well, shit."

Ted walked over to Chuck's office window, he was running though the choices that were now in front of him, if he could exploit the Intersect in Chuck's head then he could start wedging the US government using his other operational interests. Ted had spend all morning in an meeting with Tommy Delgado and the discussion of using Fulcrum to lure away agents from the intelligence community.

"You know Chuck, this could be the break we are looking for, there is someone I want you to meet."

"That's pretty funny." Tommy chuckled as he heard the story. Tommy Delgado was a former US intelligence officer who had spent most of his service dealing with the drug cartels in Central America. He became disillusioned with US foreign policy and left the service to become head of Ted Roark's personal security detail.

"So he sets you up so you don't get selected for the government's Intersect project, and then later sends it to his buddy because they can't get their Intersect to work. And that buddy happens to be in one of us? Talk about irony."

"Yeah irony," Chuck wasn't laughing, "It's not funny. Anyway are you still up for cards tomorrow night?"

 **AN: Another chapter down, keep the reviews coming!**


	6. Chapter 6 A tale of Two intersects

**AN: two things I've haven't made clear, any relationship between Bryce and Sarah is coincidental, and Ted Roark has charismatic leadership qualities and Chuck idolises him because he is a fantastic boss.**

Chapter 6: A Tale of Two Intersects

Chuck never had a reason to take a lift to the twelfth floor before, he never needed to see anyone from Human Resources but Ted made him an appointment with the head of HR. Chuck met Sydney Price in her office for the first time, Sydney is an attractive brunette in her late forties, wearing a white blouse under her charcoal grey business suit. She greeted Chuck warmly and quickly had him at ease.

"Hello Chuck, please sit down."

As Chuck sat down on the couch, Sydney sat close to him, probably to close for comfort as Chuck had only just met her.

"Ted has told me you have unfortunately come under the prying eyes of the US intelligence."

"Thank you Sydney. That's right the C.I.A. has tricked me, they have turned me into a guinea pig for one of their top secret projects."

"Oh, Chuck that is a shame, the government has not right to press individuals into service," as she reached out and put one of her hands on Chuck's arm.

Chuck looked down at the physical contact she made, he flashed on a ring on her finger and was surprised about the information the flash contained.

"Do you know anything about the CIA Director? Langston Graham?"

"Langston and I go way back, I used to be an operative in London. Chuck, 'Summerfield'."

That set off another flash, Chuck felt faint afterwards, but he had an insight on the woman in front of him holding his arm. From the data that Chuck recalled, he now knew that Sydney and Langston were often partners passing secrets back and forth across the _'Iron Curtain'._

"Really? You were a field agent and you left?" Chuck asked. His impression was that most agents left the agency by means of a ditch or shallow grave in some secluded backwater hellhole.

"Of course. But that was a while ago and I have moved on to other things. Right now I have a great job and a wonderful career at Roark Instruments." She said with a smile.

The two of them briefly smiled at each other before Sydney noticeably changed tracks in her thought process and focused on the Intersect.

"So, what's it like?"

"What's what like?"

"You know, the government Intersect. How's it different from the one that your project group created?"

This question for the first time made Chuck had a reality check on what the C.I.A had done to him. Chuck leaned back in his chair and thought long and hard before answering.

"Well, the government Intersect is a lot more disruptive than ours. It's pretty brutal on the user. It just kicks in without warning. I'm now in fear every time I drive a car. I could zone out and, and , I don't want to think about it." He paused for a moment

"The Government intersect is full subliminal signals, it has encrypted pictures and documents fired at you at rapid succession, that these subliminal messages are perceived by deeper parts of my integrated subconscious. Whereas our intersect is custom designed for me. I can choose what I want to review and more importantly how much I want to review."

Sydney was smiling as she got onto the same line of thought as Chuck. "So do you think you can find a workable medium between the two?"

Chuck stayed at work for as long as he could, he just didn't want to go home. He didn't want to go outside either. He knew they would be waiting for him. He had already been detained by Government agents once today; he wasn't keen for it to happen again in a hurry. His anxiety was broken when he received an incoming phone call, he didn't recognise the number.

"Hello Chuck, It's me, Sarah!"

"Oh, Hi"

"Are you going to spend all night in the office?"

"I've lost most of the day because of what happened this morning and I do have a deadline coming up."

Chuck used to old snowed under at work routine but Sarah wasn't going to be deterred.

"Come on Chuck, you've been in there for hours and I want to make it up to you."

"You do?"

"Yes. Look I'm down here outside and its starting to get a little chilly. Finish up whatever you're doing and meet me downstairs. Let me take you somewhere to make up for this morning."

"What are you suggesting?" Chuck sounded suspicious.

"Dinner! Now finish up and meet me downstairs."

Reluctantly Chuck finished what he was doing and locked his office door. He got in the elevator and left work for the day. As he exited out the glass door to the outside he could see Sarah waiting for him. She looked beautiful, she was wearing a blue blouse with a black leather skirt that highlighted her shape. The three inch pumps accentuating her long legs. If she was dressing to impress then it worked.

Chuck got to see the set of wheels that Sarah used to get around town, it was a Porsche 911 Carrera S4.

"Get in."

Chuck had a little trouble getting his long frame into the car. He had to adjust the passenger seat but he was still a little cramped. Sarah told him that there was a spare tie in the glove box, the dress code required a tie.

"So what happened to the black SUV?"

"It's just you and me tonight and I felt like a bit of fun!" she said as she raced around the quiet streets and expertly changed up and down the gears.

The restaurant she chose was an upmarket French a la carte. While Chuck had the salary to afford dining in a place like this it really wasn't his style at all. Chuck was more of a less pomp and more favour type of guy.

The dining room wasn't that full so their table seemed to be apart from everybody's elses. This was good for Sarah had things to tell him.

"Chuck," she said, "the bosses of both agencies want me to keep a close eye on you." She paused and let that seep in, "What we have decided with your approval of course is for me to act as your girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?"

"It's a cover we can establish in the interest of national security and for your own personal safety. It will give me the ability to be close by to keep you safe from anything that may occur."

"Wow, and how is it suppose to work?" he said with a puzzled expression

"Well we get to go out, you can take me to movies, take me dancing, visit your friends, I can take you on hikes and skiing if that's what you're into, as an government employee I can get priority access to lots of exhibitions and events. I get to pinch some of your clothes. What. That's what girlfriends do, they love to wear items of their boyfriend because it reminds them of their smell and feel. And I bet I'll look better in them that you do."

That last comment got a smile from her dinner partner

Sarah proved to be a delightful dining partner, she kept the conversation going and she was willing to share a variety of dishes. Half way through their meal Chuck flashed on a member of a drug cartel. Sarah realised he had flashed so she grilled him on who the person was, she was discreet when she sent a text to Casey, Chuck knew she was doing something under the table with her phone but didn't want to ask. Casey organised a SWAT team and they captured the culprit after Sarah and Chuck had left to go home. The mission went so smoothly that Chuck wasn't aware that he was on one, the government had received a tip off that Emil Guzman was going to dine where Sarah took Chuck, it's just that they needed Chuck to ID the guy before moving in and taking the drug lord into custody.

Chuck was surprised the next morning when Sarah rang offering him a lift to work, she had dropped him off at home and he had left his company car in the Roark basement car park.

"We would like to run some tests on you, the Government has made available one of the leading scientists that created the Intersect.

"Umm What sort of tests?"

"Well I expect the scientist will show you a series of pictures and you will be asked to respond to them. The test should take about an hour and then I will take you home."

After dropping Chuck off at his work, Sarah drove on to the spy base to set up for a meeting with the senior command.

"So at 2000 tonight, Dr. Zarnow is going to arrive and test out the Intersect. With his help, our subject might be able to control it. If he can't control it maybe he could have it removed. Any questions?" General Beckman looked like she wasn't expecting any.

After Graham and Beckman signed off of spy base's screen, Sarah turned to Casey for some reassurance. "Don't worry, Major. As soon as we sort this out, you can return to your life. Then you can chase as many terrorists as you like."

"And we won't have to babysit that geek's ass any longer," Casey growled.

That evening Sarah picked Chuck up from his apartment in a large black SUV, she was dressed casually this time but Chuck still like the blue top with the row of little blue buttons on it. Sarah drove Chuck to an area of Los Angeles he was unfamiliar with to a nondescript warehouse that she drove into a parking garage. They got out of the car and Sarah took Chuck into a small room with a projector screen in it. He was seated into a comfy chair that had a small table with a jug of water and cup on it. He was told he would not meet the scientist conducting the test for his own safety and security. When he was ready, Chuck put on a special type of headset that monitored brain activity and the test began.

A series of pictures would be projected onto the screen and Chuck had to describe what he saw. The first couple of pictures were of some cute animals, then a yellow rose appeared and Chuck flashed on the encrypted images within it.

The test seem to go on for hours for Chuck but reality was it was all over within thirty minutes.

Chuck could hear other voices thought his headset, he knew who the other people were because the Intersect recognized the voices, one was Professor Fleming, who taught Chuck's old psychology and symbolism class at Stanford, the other was Dr Zarnow, the information that Chuck flashed on about him revealed that he was a double agent selling secrets to the North Koreans.

Chuck was amazed that they left the mike open and Chuck could hear their private conversation clearly, overall they seem impressed by Chuck's ability to recall information quickly and accurately. He didn't like the suggestion to put him in a secure facility.

Sarah entered the test room with a glass of water and some headache tablets if Chuck need it.

Chuck was later given the opportunity to ask questions, but he didn't think it would be wise to voice some of them. Like: Will trying to remove the government Intersect in any way affect the Fulcrum one I already have in my head? What if I don't want to get it out since it has valuable information? No, it was best not to raise suspicions.

The testing was concluded and Chuck and his handlers returned to the military man's apartment, Chuck was especially scared of him and what he might do if he found out the truth of Chuck's allegiances.

"Yeah, thanks you two," Chuck said faintly. "I really don't want to take up anymore of your time, since it is obviously needed elsewhere." _Very far from here_. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

Chuck quickly made his way out of Casey's apartment and back to his own. While he could enjoy the cash the NSA paid him for the lease of one of his apartments, unfortunately, it meant that Casey was extremely close by to Chuck's penthouse, all for his protection. He didn't feel very comfortable living so close to the NSA agent, who might find something incriminating at Chuck's place. Good thing he doesn't usually take his work home.

Chuck sat down at his computer in his bedroom and just stared at a blank screen; he arched his eyebrows for a moment then tried to reboot it. When nothing happened he frowned. After attempting to troubleshoot and he still got a blank screen he realised that Bryce had somehow managed to wipe his hard drive of everything. He wasn't happy as he lost all his gaming files and apps. It took some time to reload his machine. He was fortunate that he had backed up his files only a couple of days earlier.

Ted was doing his best to calm down his star programmer, but Chuck was just a panicky mess.

"Listen, Chuck. You have to calm down. I'm going to get someone on Dr. Zarnow right now. For now, he was just testing the government Intersect's functioning and come up with ways to delete it. Before he gets that far, we'll take care of him."

"What do you mean by _'take care of him'?_ " Chuck didn't want anyone killed on his behalf because deep down he wasn't a bad guy.

"We'll probably bribe him or get him to work for us. You said yourself that he selling secrets to the North Koreans. If the CIA and NSA are foolishly trusting him with such a task, he must be useful somehow. It would be quite a waste of intelligence to just bump him off." Ted was trying to allay Chuck's fears, since Chuck would find it hard to concentrate on his work if he was weighed down by guilt over Dr. Zarnow. "But for now, why don't you head on to your lunch break? Let Uncle Ted take care of the rest."

Chuck walked out into the food plaza at the base of his building. A bunch of shops and eateries surrounded the entrance and spread down to the street. As he wandered along deciding where to eat, he tried to release some of his anxiety.

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw Sarah cleaning up a table in front of a sandwich shop: Lou's deli. Chuck felt his heart stop as he looked at her in her shop assistant uniform and just yards away from his place of work. With trepidation, he walked up to her.

"Hey, Sarah. What are you, ah, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, hey Chuck." She turned around and gave him a smile while she gathered up some trays. "I have a job here."

"Don't you already have a job?"

"Yeah, but I need a cover job nearby so that I can be close to you. Your safety is of the utmost importance, so I have to have ready access to you in case of emergency."

"Oh."

"And speaking of cover, as your girlfriend is very happy to see you" she grabbed him and gave him a very public kiss. When she finished the kiss she gave him a big hug. "We've got to sell it remember."

So much for clearing his head. The anxiety was coming back. "Well, you didn't really need to do that. I mean, the kiss was nice but Roark Instruments has state of the art security."

"So you didn't like me kissing and pressing my breasts against you?"

He blushed. Chuck is so easy to fluster.

"Thanks not what I mean and you know it. We have a lot of sensitive stuff in there, so we need to keep everything safe from whoever wants to cause some mischief

"I know security there is top of the line. Casey and I have tried to get in to ensure some surveillance, but we weren't able to do that."

Chuck's heart rate ramped up to near heart attack levels. He also started to feel himself sweat in nervousness at her revelation.

"Ah, I don't really think that's necessary. As I said, Roark has incredible security, so it's not like I need any extra from the government. Besides, wouldn't it be too much of a hassle to establish your own security on top of our own? I _do_ work at a technology company with a couple of paranoid geeks, so you run the risk of somebody finding your spy stuff. How about this? If our security passes muster with you, then you don't need to add anything extra. Just guard me here and that should be enough. Why don't you bring that up with your bosses?"

Chuck hoped that his placating expression was enough to dissuade her concerns and take his suggestion. At least, he hoped he looked confident and ensuring, and not the nervous wreck he felt inside. Sarah mulled over his suggestions and seemed to come to a conclusion.

"Alright, I'll bring it up. From what we have encountered so far, you guys can withstand an army of hackers and assassins. But I'm going to stay here where I can reach you." She gave him another smile and squeezed his shoulder reassuringly.

Chuck gave a silent sigh of relief at diverting that disaster for the moment. "That's great. I think I'll get something to go since my lunch break is almost over."

"Good, come on in. You can be my first and best customer, I hope you have a wide variety of taste. And I'm not the only one who'll be around. Casey is trying to get a job at Roark as well."

The world stopped and Chuck's eyes widened. "He is?" he wheezed out about an octave higher than normal.

"Yeah, but so far he's not having any luck. But don't worry, he'll find some way to stay close. We've taken out a short term lease on that closed Mr Fixit shop"

"Great, thanks," Chuck gritted out.

"So after about an hour of flashing on all sorts of government information, Dr. Zarnow was finished with the test and everyone went home. Of course, I was escorted home by my handlers, who are watching out for my wellbeing," Chuck finished with a light dose of frustration.

Rodney Barnes just looked at him and focused on the Intersect. "So, what's it like?"

"What's what like?"

"You know, the other Intersect. How's it different from ours?"

Chuck went over the similarities and differences in his head.

"Well, the government Intersect is clunky. It just kicks in and you're overloaded with images and data. You are bombarded in rapid succession bunches of pictures and documents are, intercut with other picture cues. I think those intercuts link to other documents. However, it's hard to get a very good look at the data. All I'm able to get are broad and vague facts. It's up to me to surmise what it all means. And I haven't been able to re-flash on something nor recall anything much later. The Intersect that we have built is smooth in comparison, it may be slower but I can get it to focus on subjects of my choosing. That must be because it was custom designed for me."

Rodney scoffed. "Then what good is it? Our Intersect is better since it allows for complex computational and data analysis abilities that are beyond soulless machines. We have succeeded in creating a true human supercomputer in you."

Chuck began to pace as he processed the facts.

"The major problem with our Intersect is that it has to be customized to whoever is going to have it. And a lot of intermediate steps that have to be done whereas the Governments intersect can be downloaded it from an e-mail without any preparation. Their Intersect can be downloaded into a lot of people in a short period of time but we don't yet know the risks in that approach. I don't dare think of the long term health effects."

Barnes was frowning as he got onto the same line of thought as Chuck. "So if we aren't careful we could be turning people into living zombies."

"Exactly! Come on, Rodney, we've got a lot of work to do."

 **AN: Coming up in the next installment a bit of Charah but only if you leave a review!**


	7. Chapter 7 Tango in a Tangle

Chapter 7: Tango in a Tangle

Chuck was working in his office when he got a call from Sarah who asked him to meet her downstairs in the lobby.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Give me a kiss."

"I'm sorry. What?"

"We've been on three dates. We have to sell it."

Chuck leant forward and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"That's it?"

"I'm not really good with pda."

"Pda?"

"Public display of affection."

"Well then, let's go somewhere more private."

Sarah took him by the hand and led him into the Mr Fixit shop. "Shall we?"

Casey who was busy gluing a ladies' heel back onto her shoe saw them enter. Not being experienced at it he had a bit of trouble and was showing signs of frustration.

"Sorry to break up your little tryst. Next time you need to talk to the subject, I'd appreciate a heads up."

"Relax. I wouldn't dream of starting without you, Agent Casey."

"Mom, dad, can we get on with it? I have department to run." Chuck looked at the photos and saw various people lying down. "Why are these people sleeping? "

"They're not sleeping." Casey said, "They were all killed, Chuck, and we want to know why."

"I have no idea."

"Well, look again."

"I would rather not. It's kind of creepy."

"Chuck, what did you see? "

"Um, I don't, I'm not, I'm not totally sure. A water lily painting, weapons, an art auction tomorrow night. Does the name La Ciudad mean anything to you?"

"Why?"

"Because I think he's going to be at the art auction tomorrow night."

"Got it."

"Right then, I'm going to go and write some patches for RIO version 7. Good luck with the spy stuff. So you can excuse me."

Chuck returned to his office and as usual Harry Tang was making a racket. Chuck desperately needed his mid morning coffee.

"Tang! Coffee! Now!" Chuck barked. "The rest of you guys, back to work!"

* * *

"We're glad to hear you've settled into Chuck's apartment building, Major. But if he's right, this is a high priority. La Ciudad is the most elusive and dangerous arms dealer in the world. And the last anyone heard, MI-6 in London had a drop on him, but he vanished."

"Well, if he turns up, we'll just take him down at the auction."

"It's not so easy." Graham cut in; "we have no idea what he looks like, no photographs. No one has ever seen La Ciudad that has lived to tell about it."

"So we'll bring the intersect;" came Casey's reply, "everything you know about La Ciudad was fed into that computer."

"No way. It is too dangerous. He has no field experience or training." Sarah chipped in.

"He'll be fine." Casey grunted, "It's an art auction. He'll be fine. La Ciudad probably won't even be there."

"And if he is, is it worth the risk?"

"All right, I've heard enough." Beckman commanded; "Put him in the field. We don't know what he's capable of until he's been tested."

* * *

At lunch time Chuck curiosity got the better of him and he walked into the Mr Fixit shop.

"Congratulations Chuck. You just got your first mission- tomorrow night. Hope you're ready for the real world?"

"So, dress attire for this evening is?"

"I rented you a tux."

"Oh, that's very nice, how did you know my size?"

"NSA- they have records of your rental information from prom night. I checked the suit in your closet."

"Okay, this is my first foray into major undercover spy work, so you could ease up on the sarcasm. That would be great. And how am I supposed to recognize La Ciudad? Is there a picture or something?"

"If there was a photograph, why would we need you?"

"What did we just talk about?" Chuck was staring daggers at Casey.

"I'm sorry. We're hoping something in the event triggers a flash."

"See, that's all you had to say." Chuck said, "Now, uh, hand-to-hand combat- in all seriousness, if it comes down to me and La Ciudad in some fisticuffs or something, is there, like, a 20-minute tutorial you can take me through?"

"Don't worry. You're going to be fine. Nothing's going to happen to you. Assuming you know how to tango?"

"Seriously?"

"Oh, I don't joke about your life."

* * *

"The idea with a cover is to keep it as simple as possible without revealing true personal detail. Any thoughts on a name?"

"Charles Carmichael! Simple, dignified."

"Easy to remember and not far off from…"

"Graduated with honors from Stanford. Runs a hugely successful software company. Semi-retired and is considering entering America's Cup."

"Have you done this before?"

"Let's just say, Mr. Carmichael and I share a small kinship."

"How's that?"

"When I first entered Stanford, it's kind of where I envisioned myself being by now, except for the sailing part. I don't really know where that came from. But he's where most of my class already is."

"So, what happened?"

"My life took a little detour sophomore year when our old friend Bryce Larkin discovered stolen tests under my bed, and was kind enough to alert administration."

"Did you steal the tests?"

"I thought it was kind of implied that I'm a decent person."

"Well, we all make mistakes."

"And I made plenty. That just wasn't one of them. But, hey, then Ted Roark came along and put me back on an even keel. Then you and Bryce turn up and now I have a whole database of government secrets now locked in my brain, keeping me in a constant state of fear, danger and anxiety, so I'd say you owe me big time."

"Don't worry about tonight. No reason to be nervous. I am not going to leave your side."

"Me, nervous? Come on. Never."

"Your hand is a little moist."

"It does that when I'm freaking out."

* * *

"Hey, sis, um do you know how to tango?"

"No, why?"

"Oh, no reason. I just, I have a date tonight. I thought it might come up."

"You're tangoing on a date? Well, that's definitely new territory. It's good to see you reaching outside of your comfort zone."

"Well, considering my comfort zone extends to the end of that couch, new territory was bound to come up."

"Did someone say tango?"

"No, thank you, Captain Awesome, I'll look it up online." Would you please put on something, a robe or something?"

"Did a semester abroad in Buenos Aires. Spent many a night tangoing my way into senoritas' pantalones."

With that comment he grabbed Chuck and showed him how to do the basic steps. Later Chuck practiced on his sister. Awesome was amused on how the siblings both had two left feet.

"Here. This is for you. Inside the watch is a GPS tracking system. That way you can't run away from me. And if you flash on anyone, tell me immediately and then stay out of the way."

"Absolutely, yeah. Brave men run in my family."

"This isn't a joke, Chuck. No one who's ever seen La Cuidad has lived to tell about it."

"Is he being serious? Seriously? What are my chances of getting into trouble?"

"Toughen up, you'll be fine assuming you know how to tango."

"I did some preparation, okay? I wouldn't call myself an expert."

"Why would he need to know how to tango? Is that code?"

"No, not- no, he told me that I needed to know how to tango", then the penny dropped, "Spy humor, I like that."

* * *

Chuck felt like a billionaire when he walked into the art gallery, guiding a very beautiful woman into the place, having his arms linked with hers he kind of hope that some of his old Stamford buddys could see him now. Disaster struck when a guest was clumsy with a spring roll and mashed it into his shirt.

"Oh,nice. I've been a spy all of five seconds and I already have soy sauce on my shirt."

"Well, go and wash it off. And Chuck, stop saying that you're a spy."

"Right, of course."

While Chuck was in the mens rest room cleaning the soy sauce off his shirt he flashed on the man next to him. He man noticed Chuck looking at him.

"Do we know each other?" the stranger said

" No. No, not that I know of. Sorry."

Chuck hurried out of the rest room and found Sarah close by.

"It's him."

"Who?"

"La Ciudad."

"Come on." Sarah started moving deep into the reception.

"I've already identified the person of interest, as it were, what are we still doing here? I mean, you know, mission accomplished. Time to go."

"Chuck, go wait at the bar."

"Go wait at the bar? Okay, you go do what you do. I'm going to beat the bar, waiting there. Covering that whole area."

"Drink, sir?"

"Yeah, ah I'd like a martini, Barkeep, shaken and stirred. Thank you."

"Would you like a cherry with that?"

Chuck nodded at the key word, so Casey who had acted as a barman gave him his drink and then left to help in the search. While Sarah and Casey moved around the galleria looking for potential threats Chuck decided to take a closer look at the main highlight of the evening, the painting that he saw in the newspaper this morning. As he gazed at it a beautiful woman with a southern American accent moved up to stand next to him.

"Beautiful painting."

"What's that? Yeah, beautiful painting, yeah."

"It definitely has a quality about it."

"Very, I would say, Bob Rossian in its influence."

"Who?"

"Bob Ross. Bob Ross, you know, Bob Ross. The guy who used to paint on PBS." The beautiful woman had a puzzled look on her face "you have no idea what I'm talking about. You are beautiful too"

"Sorry."

"I said do you know just how beautiful you are?"

Loving the compliment the woman decided to get personal.

"I'm Malena."

" Hi. Chuck , Charles. Charles Carmichael."

"So you don't like the painting?"

"No, it seems very lovely. I just more interested in the frame, but that- you don't"

"So sorry about this. Work never leaves you alone."

Chuck pulled out his phone and turned it off, he could see it was Morgan trying to contact him.

"I'm in the software game."

"So you were saying about the frame?"

"Nothing, it doesn't really actually matter, okay, the picture in the paper yesterday had it in a different frame."

"Champagne?"

"Sure, yeah. Thank you."

"Cheers."

"Cheers."

The orchestra for the evening started playing in the back ground. Malena closed her lovely eyes for a moment and took in the vibe of the music.

"I love a tango."

"Oh, yeah. Who doesn't?"

"Do you? "

"Do- oh, do I want to, ah you know what, what the hell. Yeah, let's give it a shot."

Chuck led Malena out onto the dance floor. They stood opposite each other then Malena put her hand on his shoulder, Chuck did the same to her.

"Chuck, I think your hand is supposed to be on my hip."

"Right Uh, apparently, I learned the girl's part of this dance. Would you mind leading?"

"Not at all."

The wait for the intro was over and then they were off. Malena was considerate of Chuck inexperience on the floor but he was however very enthusiastic. Chuck was having a great time, it was fun and his dance partner who he held in his arms was very beautiful.

"What, uh what line of work are you in, Malena?"

"Why are you so interested, Mr. Carmichael?"

"No reason. Just making conversation."

"We can talk later, but for now, dance!"

Sarah had returned to the ballroom after clearing up a misunderstanding with MI 6 agents. She noticed that her date for the evening was busy with a beautiful woman tangoing. A twinge of jealousy surfaced as for a moment she wished it was her instead dancing in his arms. Her blue eyes were a shade of green now as she focused on Malena. She notice that Malena gave what she correctly assumed was a signal to two other large men in the crowd. Just then a MI 6 agent whispered in her ear that he identified one of La Ciudad's goons. _My god_ Sarah thought, Chuck _is dancing with La Ciudad_!

The music had stopped and Chuck and Malena walked off to the side of the dance floor, she was laughing at one of Chuck's witty comments when they were approached by another guest in a tux.

"Excuse me, sir. Aren't you Chuck Bartowski?"

"Who, me? No! No, I'm Carmichael."

Allan Watterman looked carefully at Chuck and then his dance partner.

"Are you sure you're not Mr. Bartowski? . I never forget a face."

Your friend is very insistent." Malena questioned Chuck.

"No, no, I insist. I've never heard that name in my life."

"Look, if I'm cramping your style just say so, but I know you're Chuck Bartowski from Stanford." Watterman insisted.

Chuck suddenly wished that this man would get sucked into a black hole. He was here for a spy mission and now his cover was blown by an old college acquaintance. He was sure that both Sarah and Casey would be furious at him. He had to get out of there.

"Shall we go?" Chuck turned to walk away pulling Malena with him. "Excuse us."

Malena wanted some answers from her klutzy dance partner.

"Why don't we head up to my room now, Mr. Carmichael, and find out who you really are and if the tango is your only skill."

"Okay."

Sarah watched as Malena lead Chuck by the arm and headed for the elevators. They both appear to be smiling and relaxed but Sarah saw Malena signal something to one of her goons. Chuck was walking straight into danger and he didn't know it.

* * *

Malena used her room card and entered her suite, Chuck followed closely behind her. Chuck paid no attention to the two goons that followed them in. She moved in close and put her arms up and around Chuck's neck.

"Let's start with an easy one. What's your real name?"

"Carmichael, Charles Carmichael." Malena started sucking on a tender spot on Chuck's neck. "Chuck Bartowski."

"That wasn't so hard." As she gave him a nip on that spot on his neck. "So who do you work for?

"Roark Instruments! I write software for a living! I swear to god! I snuck into the party under a fake name to impress a girl!"

"Now before you answer my next question, I want you to think long and hard about my options here."

"I'm not sure of what you mean?" Chuck started giggling.

She stopped sucking, she instead bit him rather hard

"Owwl, that hurt!"

Chuck hadn't realised that Malena had removed his belt from his trousers and that caused his trousers to pool around his ankles. Malena suddenly revealed a small knife, and it looked menacing. The moment Chuck saw the knife he panicked, "Please, please, down put the knife down!"

He went to flee but he tripped up on his trousers. The moment he hit the floor Casey kicked down the hotel door. Sarah commando rolled in with guns ablazing putting bullets into both of Malena's goons. Malena threw her knife but she missed both intruders and it suck in the door. She then went to flee and tripped up over the fallen Chuck and hit her head on the coffee table knocking herself out cold.

When they reported from the Mr Fixit shop Chuck had started to calm down, he was totally freaked as they left the gallery. Sarah had held him tight as he couldn't stop shaking. Once Casey drove them all home after the debriefing Chuck appeared relatively calm. In the courtyard Casey turned to Chuck.

"Chuck. Good work."

"Okay, you know what? Big guy, and I realize that you are probably armed, so I'm gonna ask you very nicely, would you please ease up on the sarcasm."

"I wasn't being facetious. You helped us catch La Ciudad."

With that comment he walked away into his apartment. Chuck and Sarah continued on into his apartment and stood looking at each other by the couch.

"Congratulations on your first mission. You did really good, Chuck."

"Stop it. I'm not really a spy. Your computer ended up in the head of a guy who only knows how to build them and fix 'em, nothing else."

"You survived a near-death experience under the threat of torture and apprehended one of the world's most elusive killers. I'm not sure you what you think spies do exactly, but most of us would consider that a pretty good day."

"Okay, sure, so today I helped take down a major international arms dealer, but tomorrow, tomorrow I still gotta go clock in at Roark. I mean, what's the good of being a hero if nobody knows about it?"

"You know. And so do I."

"You know, if we were really dating, this would be the part where I'd be forced to kiss you good night."

"Forced? Would it be so bad? I'm sure I could suffer through it."

So he kissed her, kissing her slowly and passionately. They retired to his bedroom and Chuck used his arms to keep her at the closed door, as he kissed her on a sensitive spot on her neck, he started to undress her by unzipping her beautiful red gown, he tugged his jacket and shirt off then attempted to peel the gown off his object of desire. He failed to hear Casey at the Morgan door and he collapsed from a dart the Major fired.

"Come on Blondie, We're uncovered the rest of La Ciudad's crew in a warehouse downtown. We'll leave lover boy here and you can join the raid, Bryce is already at the base inching for action. Come on let's go"

Sarah felt momentary disappointed that Casey interrupted a chance to have hot passionate sex with Chuck, but that past when he said that a raid was happening and she was going to get some real action. She zipped up her gown and asked Casey to assist in setting up the room, a couple of condom wrappers on the floor and a spray of perfume on the bed and Chuck would be none the wiser.

Casey had to lift her out of the Morgan door. Sarah's gown was not conducive to climbing out of windows.

"So after a brief firefight, we were able to subdue the suspects and arrest them. We suffered no casualties and had no escapes."

Graham looked up from the report as Sarah finished the debrief.

"And the Intersect," Beckman asked?

"Safely tuck up in bed." The Major smirked. "Out of harms way!"

 **AN: am I being unnecessarily cruel to Chuck in regards to him getting it on with Sarah? Keep the reviews coming!**


	8. Chapter 8 Meet the Piranha!

**AN: Ok here we go with another chapter. This one takes a look at Chuck's the little explored hacking skillset!**

Chapter 8: Meet the Piranha!

Tonight was date night, well double date night as Ellie and Chuck were with their partners were having a pleasant night at a sushi restaurant. Chuck was grateful for a casual evening after a long day at work. A smile came to his face as he watched his sister and her boyfriend have a moment together after dinner at the sushi restaurant. Ellie and Awesome were not afraid of getting cute and cuddly in front of Chuck and Sarah, they weren't afraid of public displays of affection either.

"Oh, and also, and also a crab hand-roll for the lady. Light wasabi, but like light, light, almost as if you just washed your hands and only the residue of previous orders remains."

When it came to ordering, Chuck ordered for Sarah to the amusement of the heart surgeon.

"Didn't realize how old-fashioned you were, Chuck." Devon stated.

"Oh, why? Cause I was ordering food for my girl? Well, I guess I just know what she likes."

"You sure do. Thanks, sweetie."

"Welcome, sweetie."

"No, no." Devon laughed "I was referring to how old fashioned, how slow you guys are taking things."

"Devon!" Ellie snapped at him.

"What?" Devon in disbelief he was getting grief from her. "I mean you guys are joined at the hip, but that's not where you're supposed to be joined. I mean it's like the east wing of our apartment has taken a vow of celibacy."

Ellie scolded him "That is none of our business."

The banter continued through their meal, with Ellie constantly trying to get Devon to stop prying into the love life of the Chuck and Sarah. Sarah could see that Chuck was playing a straight bat to the prying but she knew what Chuck was feeling deep down because of the subtle tells she could read off him.

"How about we go to a bar for a drink and maybe dance?"

"The night's still young, bro," Devon answered.

Chuck was envious that his sister had a meaningful relationship with Devon. What they had was so real compared to what he had was so fake. He only wished that he could say the same thing for himself. Before he could wistfully ponder on his sister's love, his thoughts were interrupted by a commotion outside in the street. Any further thoughts were derailed when a scientist dosed with deadly truth serum and secret launch codes collapsed on the footpath in front of them.

* * *

After seeing Devon and Ellie disappear in an ambulance, Chuck and Sarah returned to Chuck's place and Chuck made coffee for both of them.

"I'm getting way too comfortable lying and sneaking around all this spy stuff, okay. I'm starting to feel that that is my real life."

"It's all to be expected. It's an existential spy crisis of sorts."

"It used to be all compartmentalized, you know. Chuck world and spy world. But when I watched those ambulance doors close and my sister was behind them with that sweaty nuclear spy freak, my worlds collided. I've put Ellie's life in danger."

"No, Chuck, that guy was sick with or without the intersect in your head. And spy world or not, Ellie helped that guy because that is what she is trained to do."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Chuck, There's something else I have to talk to you about."

"What's that?"

"I'm a little worried about our cover. I think it's time for us to make love."

Chuck nearly choked on his drink, "It's a hot coffee." He spluttered. Well Sarah comment had Chuck's head spinning, and was doing other things to his other head, while he thought about the possibilities for tonight. He recovered enough to say "Ellie and Awesome could be hours, we do have to place to ourselves."

"No. It needs to be done while they're here, they have to witness it."

"What do it in front of them, they don't need to see it, they're doctors."

"They need to see me go in to your room, it's for the cover."

With that comment she kissed him on the cheek and grabbed her bag and left for the evening.

* * *

Lazlo Manhovski was feeling good this morning, he was sitting under a tree in his favourite park in Washington surfing the net on his laptop. He had a habit of reading the latest news on line. He read with interest on the latest boast by the computer mogul Ted Roark on how the RIO was the most secure operation system on the planet. Lazlo smiled to himself as he read the article, he could not stand the arrogant billionaire, Ted Roark was too rich and too powerful and Lazlo would like nothing more than to see Roark fall on his face. A wicked idea spouted forth inside Lazlo's brain, he would hack into the Roark system and cause the system to crash. He would also contaminate the system with a couple of trojans of his own creation. He cracked his fingers and rolled his shoulders then he set about causing some mischief.

* * *

The following morning was a waste for Chuck he couldn't concentrate at work so he cancelled a meeting he was suppose to chair and took an early lunch and spent it sharing a Sarah made sandwich with her. He was thinking about tonight when his phone started buzzing. By reflex Chuck looked down and checked on his phone, this SMS got his eyebrows rising to his hairline. It seems that someone is currently hacking into the Roark Instruments' mainframe and built in security had alerted the key programmers.

"Umm sorry, Sarah, I've got to go, someone has hacked into Roark's mainframe."

"Chuck, I'm on my break, could I watch you deal with this? Please?"

Chuck had a quick thought, the main terminal for combating hacking wasn't anywhere near his office, or incriminating evidence, it was on the Mezzanine floor which was open space and had little security.

"Alright, come along" as he got out of his chair, Sarah quickly followed in his footsteps only to catch up and grab him by the hand as Chuck guided her to the terminal room. Taking out a hacker was a spectator sport at Roark. Roark had a policy, well more a roster of programmers on who would deal with hackers, today Chuck was man charged with taking this hacker out. As the programmers go, it was an honour to be on the list, only the best were selected.

After signing Sarah in with a guest pass they made their way to the security terminal, a couple of colleagues vacated the terminal seats when Chuck arrived. Soon there was a small crowd of onlookers as Chuck flexed his fingers and started to round up this hacker.

Sarah was seated next to Chuck when she felt a large pair of hands rest on her shoulders, definitely invading her personal space, she looked up to see the owner of these hands as Ted Roark himself.

"Who's the owner of these lovely shoulders Chuck?"

Chuck was still concentrating on the screen in front of him, introduced the two.

"Ted this is Sarah my girlfriend. Sarah this is Ted Roark."

Ted lowered his right hand for Sarah to shake before returning it to her shoulder.

"What have we got? Chuck!"

"Well this guy is good obviously, he got a round our security, and he's been bouncing his signal off various satellites but now I'm zeroing in on his location. He's leaving a familiar signature trace, I know his routine, the MO of a hacker who goes by the name of Lazlo."

Chuck continued to caress the keyboard, his audience had grown, and word had taken off in the building like wildfire that Chuck was battling a hacker. Chuck took his eyes off his screen to notice his enlarged audience, with a flick of a button a large wall mounted monitor came to life so now everyone could see.

They all gathered around to watch the large monitor. Chuck sent another command to Lazlo's site and he tried to back trace it to Chuck. This went on for a solid half hour.

"He knows that we are on to him, but his ego will make him fight on." A drink come out of nowhere and Sarah kept Chuck hydrated, as Chuck was completely in the zone. After thinking for a minute, Chuck said "He's been doing a great job of trying to lure me into a trap and not following me back into mine. Perhaps a more direct approach will work."

While Chuck was battling Lazlo, Ted was texting away franticly on a personal device of his own.

Chuck organised a three pronged attack to keep the hacker busy for a few minutes. Chuck then loaded in a tracking virus to locate where the hacker was physically. They watched as Lazlo fended off the second attack and then his GPS was located. Ted immediately fired off another texted, Ted had he own surprise for Lazlo.

The rest of the audience watched in fascination at the epic battle going on between the Hacker and the Piranha. Everything that they threw at the other was beaten back and Chuck felt greatly challenged. "Everything he tries I'm blocking, now for the counter attack. Let's see if I can divert him down this pathway."

Just then a popup window appeared on his screen. It came from his prey and showed vulnerability in the Hackers' defences.

"Sarah if you would do me the honor, Press the enter key now."

Sarah did as instructed; sometime later a gold star would be added to the Remembrance wall at Langley.

Chuck leaned back in his chair and smiled. "The Piranha is still undefeated." He turned away from his computer and stood up to the standing applause of his audience. Sarah looked on is disbelief, she saw Ted looking straight at her, "You know, if these hackers would only ask for a job here, I'd employ them on the spot."

Chuck was feeling pretty good about himself, he managed to take down Lazlo and later tonight he was going to spend it having sex with his handler.

* * *

Langston Graham looked at his latest report. One of his best hackers had been found dead in a public park outside Langley. The operative was Lazlo Manhovski, he was found with a bullet wound to the head.

A computer wizard, Lazlo Manhovski has been coerced into agreeing to join the C.I.A. by Graham many years ago. Lazlo bragged about being able to hack any security system anywhere in the world since he was twelve. The C.I.A. had moved him to Langley where he worked with other geeks under Langston's control. Lazlo was renowned for his knowledge of computer and internet security and his eccentricity, he liked to work out in the open air, parks were his favourite. His body was found beside a tree without his laptop, local law enforcement was investigating if it was a robbery gone wrong.

 **AN: Thanks for all the reviews, I enjoy reading them.**


	9. Chapter 9 Home Truths

Chapter 9: Home Truths

Chuck was surprised later that morning when Ted Roark walked into his office with a young curly hair man. The geek was no older than Chuck when he first started working for Roark.

"Chuck, we've just hire a new member for your team. This is Manoosh Depak. Manoosh has been freelance contracting for a while now."

"Welcome, Welcome to Roark" Chuck said as he stuck out his hand for a handshake.

"Thank you, It's good to be here. I saw what you did while battling that hacker. I'm very impressed."

"Thank you." Chuck replied and then there seemed to be an uncomfortable silence in the room.

"So." Chuck trying to be friendly and breaking the ice, "Where do you study?"

"I dropped out of MIT because I knew more than the professors."

"Oh" Chuck said surprised.

"But we at Roark know how to spot talent when we see it so we've given him a position here with us." Ted chipped in.

Chuck was a little put out by this turn of events as he wasn't actively seeking additional staff. The projects he was working on were actually in the final stages of testing and they were scheduled to be available in the next version of RIOs.

"Right, Okay, I'll introduce you the rest of the team, and then I get you settled in at a workstation."

Chuck wondered if he was one of these hackers that try to get into the Roark system and somehow Roark found him and offered him a law abiding job.

* * *

Much later that afternoon Chuck got a surprised visit from his Human Resources manager, Sydney Price. She used the excuse of having to get Manoosh to sign some paperwork so she was here on his floor. Now that she was on his floor she wanted to have a word in private. Chuck did the rare thing of shutting the door to his office.

Sydney knew that Chuck was flustered about public displays of affection but she wondered about other aspects of Chuck's life. She had seen the very attractive girl sitting beside Chuck as he battled the hacker. She needed to sit him down and have a frank conversation with him.

"I saw you battling that hacker, Who's has the blond women sitting next to you?"

"That is Sarah. She's C.I.A."

"I see, she's your handler?"

Chuck nodded.

"So you relationship with Sarah, Is it real? Is it physical? Have you two had sex?"

Chuck blushed.

"How is it? If you don't mind me asking?"

"A gentleman never kisses and tells."

Chuck got a dirty look from Sydney, after all she was here to help so he answered her.

"Great. I think?"

"Don't you remember it?"

"No. I can remember the start of some kissing but then it sort of goes blank."

"Oh? So how do you know you're having sex?"

Chuck looked at her dumbfoundly. Sydney pressed on.

"Do you wake up feeling headachy and have a strange taste in your mouth?"

"Funny enough , I do."

"Thought so."

* * *

He had been fantasying about her for weeks, but his conversation with Sydney had created some doubt in his mind. He replayed the events of his conversation with Sarah the night before and wondered if indeed Sarah had slipped with her cover. Why would Sarah say they needed to make love when he thought that they already had previously? Sydney mentioning the strange after taste in his mouth could be proof that Sarah had instead drugged him and hoped he was none the wiser.

He had to keep up with appearances so he prepared his room, he choose the music and was lighting every candle he owned in the apartment. He heard a soft tap on his bedroom door and in came Sarah wearing a long trenchcoat.

"Ellie let me in Wow, Chuck. What do you think is going to happen here tonight?"

"Why? What do you, what do you think I think?"

"Well, I don't know, the, the candles and the music. I mean, you do know we're just spending the night together for cover, right?"

"Why, why would I possibly think anything else?" her comment all but confirmed what Sydney was talking about. "I mean, by now I'd say I'm pretty familiar with the concept of faking it, so Sarah"

"Chuck", she cut him off, "we've got to take this assignment seriously. Chuck!"

"Okay, I'll lose the music." He pushed a button and the music stopped "You can change in the bathroom." Because at that moment he really didn't want to look at her.

"That's okay. What?"

Sarah had removed her coat to reveal that she was wearing a purple baby doll lingerie outfit, she was shocked but secretly delighted at the look on Chuck's face when he noticed what she was wearing was pretty much see through.

"You're giving me crap about lighting some candles and you come in wearing that?"

"What, this old thing? (I bought it today during my lunchbreak) This, this is part of my cover."

"Well, it doesn't cover a thing."

"And what if Ellie or awesome were to walk in? This is exactly what a girlfriend would wear to seduce her boyfriend. I am just being professional."

"Yeah. The world's oldest profession." Chuck knew the moment those words came out of his mouth he would regret it.

"Oh Well, that's real nice, Chuck."

* * *

He lay there quiet for a moment; Sarah instinctively knew Chuck was stewing over the thoughts that were rattling his brain. She knew that the conversation hadn't gone as planned either for they were snapping comments back and forth at each other. She was lying there and she could hear the argument coming from the bedroom across the hall. Ellis's voice was getting louder and her boyfriend was been given a verbal tongue lashing.

"We're starting to sound like them, aren't we?"

"A little." Sarah was fishing for a lead on what Chuck was thinking. "Are you okay? Is there anything you want to talk about?"

"What exactly are the rules with our, like you know, our, our thing?"

"What do you mean?"

"What do I mean? I mean hypothetically speaking, are we allowed to see other people?"

"Well, uh our cover is boyfriend/girlfriend, so tactically, that would be challenging. Plus any prospective date would have to endure a rigorous vetting process to determine her motivation."

"Wouldn't her motivation be love?"

"Ideally, but you're a very important piece of intelligence, and you have to be handled with extreme care."

That confirmed it to Chuck, there would be no hanky-panky tonight.

"You know what? I think I'm just going to sleep on the floor."

"Chuck, we can't compromise our cover."

"Well, I feel compromised already."

"Chuck, if you get out of this bed I will hurt you!"

They were lying there quietly listening to Ellie and Devon argument, well more like Ellie bitching. While Chuck loved his sister, she did process a spiteful tongue and tonight Devon was copping it big time. Chuck waited until he built up his courage and then decided to make his move.

"So if you are going to sleep in my bed then, my bed my rules!"

Chuck rolled over and reached out with his long arm and pulled Sarah back into him. They were in a spooning position before she knew it. "Come on Sweetie give!" he whispered into her ear as he firmly grabbed her breast. He tripped one of Sarah's defences, she had in her bra cup a potent tranq dart and Chuck felt a slight prick on his index finger. Sarah could feel Chuck's body relax as he succumbed to the drug. Safe but not saved.

'You idiot' she thought because now she had the problem of if Ellie interrupted them Chuck was now unconscious and a trained doctor like Ellie or Devon would know something was amissed. She had to get out of bed to get an antidote needle to wake Chuck up if the need arose. She went to her case and got the necessary equipment, she placed it under her pillow, she was used to a gun under the pillow anyway.

As the words got more heated Sarah decided she better give Chuck the antidote. She gave Chuck an injection then climbed on top of him, throwing the needle behind the bedhead. It looked like woman on top when Ellie burst through the bedroom door and invaded their privacy. Devon following closely behind her trying to grab her and get her back outside into the hallway.

"Come on, babe. Get back in bed."

The only bed Ellie was interested in was Chuck's, so she jumped on without checking if she landed on anyone. If she wasn't having sex tonight then why should anybody else.

Chuck in the meantime came to and sat up with a start. So sudden was his movement, he caught Sarah off guard and she fell backwards to the end of the bed. She quickly got herself back into a kneeling position as Ellie sat herself down next to her.

"I have known him since the day he was born obviously. When people would ask him what he wanted to be when he grew up, he would always say the same thing: "big boy." how cute is that?"

"Ellie, you're killing me here."

"And now he is a big boy. And I can tell that he is because he is with a big big girl."

"Sorry, guys. Don't mean to muck up your mojo. I tried to stop her." Devon apologised.

"Is she drunk?" Chuck queried

"Chuck, you need a haircut. It's starting to make funny animal shapes."

"Let's go, babe. These two need their privacy, huh?"

"When you were seven, I told you that a burglar stole the money from your piggy bank. That was a lie. It was me. At the time, I felt it was very important for me to have a Back Street Boys fanny pack."

"Ellie, are you okay? Have you done anything out of the ordinary?"

"Words taste like peaches."

"Okay, we going to go now. Let you kids get back to doing whatever it is you're doing. Have fun, all right. Hey, sorry to bother you folks."

* * *

"Alright, where is it?" Casey growled.

Riordan Payne was still howling in agony from where Sarah shot him in the knee. He gave them a vicious glare, but still said nothing.

"Listen, Payne," Chuck began. "I think it's in your best interests to tell us where the real antidote is. My bosses, my real bosses..." Chuck was stumbling with his compulsion to tell the truth and to keep from revealing himself "...who happen to be in the government, would not like it if I died. I've got some really important information and programming skills that are needed by a lot of people." It was extremely difficult for Chuck to control what he blurted out. He was trying to stay vague and put in a lot of inconsequential details to mask any major revelations. "My bosses also include the people at Roark Instruments." He bit his tongue to halt any further revelations. "They would be really pissed at you because-"

"Will you shut it, Bartowski? I don't need to put up with more of your inane rambling when I'm around you for this long. And you're giving me a headache." Casey turned his attention back to Payne. "Now, before this moron decides to spew anymore verbal diarrhea, where are the codes?" He cocked his gun to emphasize the threat.

Luckily for Chuck, Sarah and Casey weren't paying too much attention to Chuck's rambling monologue. It was a habit both of them had developed to filter out most of what Chuck said unless he presented them with relevant information.

Finally, they got the antidotes and were about to take them. Chuck and Sarah were facing each other, and Chuck found that this might be a good time to find out the truth of her feelings for him.

"Wait, wait, wait, not yet, not yet."

"Why? What's the matter?"

"Nothing, it's just that…this will probably be the last chance that I have to know the truth. I…know you're just doing your job here, but sometimes it feels so real, you know? So, tell me. What did happen the other night in my bedroom?"

"You acted like a brutish boar and I had to slap you down. You ruined what could have been a beautiful moment!"

He reacted negatively to her response, she had verbally slapped him down. He knew he had messed up, and he took it rather badly, she could tell from his body language as his shoulders drooped.

"Got it. Got it. Thank you for being honest." He paused for a moment, "Even though I guess you don't really have a choice in the matter."

Before Chuck could say anything more, she swallowed her antidote. Chuck looked at his vial, he hesitated for a moment before following Sarah's example.

* * *

Chuck sat quietly in the back of Casey's vehicle as the agents dealt with the matters of taking Riordan Payne into custody. His handlers were too busy with the other agents to notice that the Intersect was sulking. Neither of the handlers spoke to him when they finally got in the car, all he got was a quick glance as they got in.

Sarah was sitting in the front seat feeling tense and anxious about nearly telling Chuck about her feelings about him. Those feelings that were still confusing her. It was too close Sure, he was nice, funny, smart, handsome, and considerate, but he was still her asset. Sarah really liked him, but she was finding it harder to keep her distance, and objectivity. It was unsettling how she was starting to feel herself get drawn to him. She decided to put off finding out what those feelings and thoughts really meant, and went in for the debriefing.

"So the agent should be there in a couple of minutes to pick up the launch codes," Beckman finished.

"Is there anything else that you think is necessary to share?" Graham continued.

"No sir. That's it on my side," Sarah said.

"No. As far as our knowledge goes, everything has been taken care of," Casey concurred.

"Good job then, agents." With that, Beckman and Graham terminated the feed.

Casey and Sarah then decided to send Chuck home so that they could take care of the handover of the intelligence they had gathered.

* * *

A knock at the door prompted Casey to go over and check who it might be. "I don't think I can go bowling tonight, but I can lend you my ball." Casey winced at the call sign.

"Thanks," said the agent on the other side, "Todd tried to lend me his, but it's the wrong weight."

Satisfied with the return, Casey opened the door and handed the agent the codes. Putting the chip into a briefcase, the agent promptly left.

"I'm glad that's over with. I hate truth serums," Casey growled as he closed the door.

"I don't think anyone likes them. They lower your defenses and make you vulnerable."

"By the way, Walker," Casey started. "Did you say anything to the asset that might compromise you?"

"No. Fortunately, I've been trained to withstand the effects of pentathol."


	10. Chapter 10: Some skin in the Game

**In this chapter Chuck's two worlds meet and he has to do his best to stop them from colliding. It doesn't help when his bosses want him to have some skin in the game.**

Chapter 10: Some skin in the game

The advantage of working for a large multinational corporation was there was plenty of talented people around that you can ask for advice. This was certainly true about Roark Instruments. Ted Roark had the talent of getting the best out of his people without the drawback of the usual office politics and bickering. Maybe because Ted was an autocratic and he was the biggest shareholder which meant he could not be replaced. Ted made the big calls and Ted usually was right. The staff at Roark all seemed to on the same page and they all wanted to help you get the best out of yourself. Sydney Prince was the Director of Human Resources, she was one of these people that you could approach about almost anything and she was wise and knowledgeable about the world Chuck had fallen in to. Chuck was up in Sydney's office and the topic of conversation was about seduction.

"Have you heard of a Roan Montgomery?" That triggered a flash and Chuck verbalised what he saw.

"Uh, the guy lives in Palm Springs. He knows a lot of ladies. a lot of ladies. So, what's the deal with this Roan guy?"

"He's a legend in the C.I.A. Incredible spy. Real old-school James Bond type."

"Yes I can see that."

"Roan taught classes at Langley called, Infiltrating and Inducement of Enemy Personnel, at the academy, we called it Seduction School. All recruits have to attend classes, even Sarah."

"Really, The CIA teaches agents how to kiss etc? I find that hard to believe."

"Is that so? Chuck I want you to kiss me."

Chuck stared at her, he was taken aback by her forthright manner.

"Come on now. Don't be shy."

She had a way of making herself cute and vulnerable that could draw any man in. A nervous Chuck stood up and crossed over the room to where Sydney was standing. She moved in by putting her arms around him and tilted her head up for a kiss. He put his arms around her then he leaned in to kiss her lips. He gasped in surprise as Sydney deepen the kiss, then he pulled out of the kiss to look down into her eyes.

"Does that kiss feel familiar? Does Sarah kiss you that way?"

Chuck was stunned for a moment before coming back to reality, "What are you trying to tell me?

"All recruits are taught how to kiss like that, even me; Roan has been around for a long time."

"Smooth moves there Sydney!" Ted Roark was lending against the door frame looking at the two in the office. "I'm not interrupting anything important?"

Chuck and Sydney stepped back from each other and both turned to their CEO in the doorway. Sydney reached up and adjusted her hair, Chuck stood there like a stunned mullet.

"I was just demonstrating to Chuck some of the techniques the C.I.A. uses to train their agents on how to control their assets."

"Sounds good, perhaps you could demonstrate that one to me later!" Ted said in jest.

"Thank you, Sydney; you have helped me made some sense to the chaos that is swirling around my brain at million miles an hour."

"You're welcome, that's what I'm here for. Are you going to Friday night drinks? You are well I'll see you there."

Chuck quickly left her office to return to his own, he left Ted and Sydney to talk.

They waited until Chuck was inside a lift and out of earshot before continuing their conversation. Sydney expressed her concerns that Chuck might have fallen in love with his handler. She had seen this agent that had been assigned to manage Chucks' life, and she believed that a young horny male like Chuck would sooner or later fall for his handlers feminine charms. If that was to happen then there was a danger of Chuck compromising Fulcrum. It was something that Ted and Sydney were determined not to happen. It was decided that the time had come for Chuck to have some skin in the game. If Chuck talked then he would go down with the sinking ship, just like the rest of them.

* * *

Friday night drinks in the executive suites and Ted was not happy. It seemed that Malena was contracted to do a job for Fulcrum and Chuck inadvertently got her arrested. If you are going to take on the might of the US government then you are going to need some serious firepower, and lots of it, La Ciudad was the most dangerous arms dealer in the world and she was brokering a deal to supply Fulcrum with the necessary equipment. Now that La Ciudad was out of the game Roark lost the sizeable deposit for the shipments that were no longer coming.

"I'm going to have to consult with the others and see what we can do. Chuck, you're supposed to steer any connections to Fulcrum away from us." The comment made Chuck feel awful about himself.

"Alright, alright," Ted responded to his increasingly panicky programmer. "You couldn't have known, sometimes plausible deniability has repercussions. Try to keep us in the loop. We'll take care of it." Ted patted Chuck on the back. Now that Chuck thought about it, he was almost killed by friendly fire and it gave him the shudders.

* * *

After a quiet day in the office and there were no mission briefs, Chuck had a rare night at home by himself. His good buddy, Morgan was occupied with a girl from his work and then there was Sarah, well he didn't know where she was tonight but his other handler Casey was home, inside watching the History channel.

His peace and quiet was interrupted by a knock on the door. He was surprised that his visitor was his old nemesis Bryce Larkin. Larkin had come over with a peace offering, a slab of beer. What the heck, drinking another man's beer on a week night , maybe ordering a pizza or two, spin a few yarns and tell a few lies and half truths. Chuck knew Bryce always had an alternative motive with everything he did, here was a chance to get some answers out of him for a change.

Chuck let Bryce in and the two men settled down, drinking beer around the coffee table.

"So, what do I owe this honour of you darkening my doorstep?"

"I wanted to clear the air between us."

"And the beer?"

"To be enjoyed, as always."

With that Bryce handed Chuck a beer and then both men took a pull of their beers. Nothing was said for a while, the silence was deafening. Bryce was the first to crack.

"It's been five years, surely you must have questions?"

"Why did you frame me back at Stanford?"

"Revenge. You stole my girl."

"Who? Jill?"

"I came back from summer training at Langley and found you two going for it like rabbits."

"What, really?"

"Yeah, I caught you two going at it like rabbits on the island bench in the kitchen. I went outside and waited for you to finish."

"Well that was nice of you."

"Don't you remember that crack about the cockroaches?"

Chuck took another sip of his beer as he leant back and thought back to happier times, he started to blush when he remembered the island bench, the act and the comment. Bryce noticing the change in Chuck's demeanour, he thought he would press on.

"You saw that?"

Bryce took a swig and gave a nod and smirked at him.

"Well you did disappear on us. You were gone for months without a word!" Chuck was trying to justify his actions, "and you knew how well Jill and I got on."

"But I thought you had a thing for Cherry?"

Chuck laughed, "Even Cherry had a thing for Jill."

"Wow. I never realised. So do you know what ever happened to those two?"

"Well let's see, Cherry has a photography studio in Hollywood, it's on the Sunset Strip."

Bryce slowly nodded at that.

"Jill." Chuck continued, "Jill got a research job on the East Coast, Boston I believe, working for one of those Hi-Tech medical foundations. I haven't spoken to her for quite some time."

"So you didn't go the distance either. She definitely had the drive and the ambition, she certainly was a lady with many talents."

"Yeah well what do you do? The tyranny of distance was the killer." Chuck took another swig of beer. "She was East Coast, I was West Coast and her boss was right there. It didn't take her long to wrap those long slender legs around his hips."

A little bit of small talk, and then the pizzas arrived. Pizza and beer can't be beaten. Chuck told of what he knew of former classmates. He didn't kept in touch with most of them but he knew Steve Hunter died in an automobile accident last year, leaving behind a wife and two kids. He was surprised when Bryce told him how Allan Watterman had been busted for securities fraud.

"Anyway we have a bigger problem, there is a small group of disgruntled CIA agents weren't happy with how the CIA were handling things. They banded together and got some serious financial backing and have created their own spy outfit known as Fulcrum."

That comment made Chuck choke on his anchovies. Bryce knew about Fulcrum but hopefully not that much. Now that got Chuck anxiety up, if he hadn't been half tanked by the beer, the amber ale had been calming him now he was starting to feel sick to the stomach.

"When the government ordered the CIA/NSA to share their Intel after 9-11 they created the Omaha project. They wanted an agent to be able to access information quickly so to be able to complete mission without unnecessary delays due to faulty intel. As a project leader I was under immense pressure to get the project operational. We were spending millions for dollars but the candidates could not handle the Intersect properly. There was only person I knew who could handle it and make it work. Someone I could trust it with …."

"Me?" Chuck interjected.

"You!"

"Why me?"

"Like I said I was under immense pressure for results!"

"So you sent me the Intersect to save your career."

Bryce gave him a wry smile and then finished the beer he was holding before reaching forward for another one.

"Do you remember Professor Fleming?"

"You mean Professor John Fleming, who taught psychology and symbolism at Stanford? The man that accused me of cheating. Of course I remember him."

"Professor Fleming was a CIA recruiter on campus."

"Really? I did not know that."

"He was going to short list you for the Omaha project. This meant that you were basically being drafted into service of the US government."

"Like I am now, thanks to you."

"True but you wouldn't have all the perks that Roark Instruments have given you. Would you rather work at Roark and moonlight on the side or be in some secure Government facility that officially doesn't exist?" I remembered when you told me about the testing and how well you went. Professor Fleming confirmed that your results were off the charts but I needed to something drastic to stop Fleming from forwarding the results to the CIA. Did you know Fleming was trading test scores for sexual favours? It was a simple case of blackmail, and I hacked the system and erased your results.

"That was very thoughtful of you."

"I knew that if I gave you the Intersect, you would be smart enough to make it work. All of our secrets would be safe and that the right CIA would send the right agents to protect you and they did."

"Sarah?" Chuck's brow furrowed.

"Sarah!" Bryce looked confused for a moment; he was reading Chuck's facial expressions. "What wrong with having Sarah in your life. She's smart, she's pretty, she's one hell of an agent and despite what she claims, she can be witty and very funny."

Chuck nodded his head in agreement. Bryce took another swig of his beer and then got serious.

"The Intersect was suppose to be top secret but the word had got out. I found out that a small group of agents wanted to use it for other less noble purposes. I knew there was a group but I didn't know who they were. I knew I had to flushed them out so I set up that Silicon Valley company and the termites came a running."

Bryce pulled out a photo of Tommy Delgado

"Chuck, beware of this guy!"

Chuck knew who it was as he often had poker nights at Tommy's place. According to Bryce, Tommy was a C.I.A. agent who went rogue. Delgado was now actively recruiting other disgruntled spies from every agency. Tommy made the mistake of attempting to recruit Bryce, but Bryce was patriot, he had lost both parents in 9/11. With that warning Bryce decided to leave, he got up and finished his beer before moving to the front door.

"Hey, uh, Bryce you have forgotten your glasses."

"You keep 'em. If you're going to be a spy, you're gonna need them."

"I don't, I don't want to be a spy."

"From what I've seen, it's a little too late for that, Chuck. I'm sure you hate me right now. But someday you're going to realize it's all for the greater good."

After Bryce had left through the front door, Chuck retired to his bedroom with the glasses in his hand. As he stood in front of his bedroom mirror his vanity got the better of him and he put the glasses on and in a mock Sean Connery voice.

"Not bad. Carmichael. Charles Carmichael."

The password triggered the glasses, before Chuck knew it he had an update of the government intersect downloaded into his brain. He felt like vomiting and the room started to spin and Chuck had to lay down on his bed

"I hate Bryce Larkin."

* * *

"Mornin' Casey!" Chuck chirped as he walked across the plaza to enter Roark's building. Casey set up his cover as a handyman in a Mr Fixit shop two doors down from Lou's Deli. He has mobility, closeness to Chuck, and can fix shoes, cut keys and repair zippers and handbags.

"Hurm," he grunted with a usual Casey expression on his face.

"I forgot to invite you to dinner with Sarah, Ellie, and Awesome tonight. I figured that since you might be monitoring us anyway, you might as well-" Chuck looked to the side and flashed.

Unfortunately, he got a glimpse of a Chinese guy and flashed on the man's tattoos.

"Uh Casey!"

"Did you flash?"

"Yeah and it's not good. That guy on the stairs," he pointed to the man "he's carrying a weapon and he's also the leader of a Triad gang in downtown LA that the FBI have been tracking for years. He has ties from Singapore to Tokyo and they are laundering millions in an out of China!

* * *

"So after a brief car chase, we were able to run the suspects off the road and arrest them. We suffered no casualties and had no escapes."

Graham looked up from the report as Sarah finished the debrief.

"And the Intersect," Beckman asked, "how has that been working?"

Chuck stood up from where he was seated and began to report on its performance.

"Umm, you know it has its moments".

At first, he was nervous about talking to the general and director. But after a few missions, he's become a bit more comfortable interacting with all the government people. The fact that nothing Fulcrum related has come up yet has just made things easier.

After Graham and Beckman sign off, Sarah turned to Chuck. "Good job, Chuck. You did great."

"Yeah," Casey smirked, "you only screamed like a little girl twice."

"And you need to stay in the car." Sarah looked a little more serious at that. "We can't protect you if you go off after the enemy. I don't want you to get hurt." Sarah was giving Chuck a soft but intent look that Chuck had to look away from. She seemed really concerned for him.

"Alright, next time a random thug aims a missile launcher at the car, I'll stay in it." He smiled and seemed to diffuse the situation a bit. "Oh, and let me just remind you that we have thanksgiving dinner tomorrow night with Ellie and Awesome. I think she's going all out this year, even Morgan got an invite."

Sarah's smile dazzled and she looked happy and excited. "I'm looking forward to it."

* * *

Chuck leaned heavily against the door and sunk down to the floor when he got back to his place. He held his hand out and he watched it shake a little, he did not have a steady hand and he wondered if it was the stress. He was settling into his role as a double agent for Fulcrum and the government, but it was still a lot of hard and messy work. He had to relay information to two masters. And if Fulcrum showed an interest in someone he flashed on, they tried to contact that person or group. Things just got stickier when the government wanted to shut them down. So far, Chuck has been barely hanging on and keeping his stories straight. Fortunately, the missions have not yet directly clashed with Fulcrum.

Chuck's anxiety levels were up again the next morning when he had an unscheduled meeting with Tommy Delgado in his office. Tommy had heard that there is a decryption program that could render CIA security useless. The seller is Otto Von Vogel. He will be hosting a party as a smoke screen for him to meet potential buyers. Tommy with the mass resources of Ted Roark wanted to acquire this software. He had come into Chuck's office to check if Chuck had anything in the government intersect that he should know about.

Chuck was concerned that if Tommy knew about the decryption program then possibly the CIA knew about it as well. He hoped that if that was the case then his handlers would not be called upon to recover it.

* * *

In a hastily arranged meeting in the Mr Fixit shop, Beckman was addressing the team,

"The last thing we need is for a rogue organisation having access to all of our secrets."

"Okay."

"The mission is at a chalet tonight at being hosted by Otto Von Vogel. Vogel is a German national who deals in exotic weapons and other unsavoury items. Otto has created a decryption program that could render CIA security useless. Your mission is to find and recover the software and have it placed in CIA custody. Casey you will pose as a potential buyer and Walker will be his hired companion. And Chuck, you will be acting in an observational capacity on this mission. You will stay in the van and monitor the live feeds. I'm told you have great hacking ability so you should be able to watch the action on the chalet close circuit television."

Chuck had his work colleague Rod Barnes to park his company car near the Chalet who then caught a cab home. Chuck hoped that the stakeout van would not pass his parked car but he had moments of anxiety when that happened. He managed to distract Casey and Sarah long enough so that when they drove pass they didn't notice.

* * *

Chuck watch as Casey and Sarah disappeared towards the party. Sarah dressed as according to the brief, she was wearing a red gogo mini dress that had cut out sides which meant that she couldn't wear underwear. Her six inch heels made her wiggle while she walked. When Chuck first viewed what she was wearing he nearly had a coronary. She was absolutely stunning and dead sexy. Speaking of deadly Chuck wondered where she hid her knives.

Flicking thought the different camera feeds Chuck identified Tommy Delgado in another room. Chuck knew that Tommy was on the CIA hit list and wanted to warn him about his handlers. He muted his microphone and rang Tommy on his phone. Tommy felt his phone vibrate and checked who was calling.

"What do you want, I'm working!"

"You have to get out. My handlers are in the next room and they are coming your way."

"Thanks pal but I'm not leaving without what I've come here for!"

"You have to move. They just entered from the other door!"

Tommy slipped into the next room; fortunately he has the cover of a crowded room so his opposition may not spot him easily. This complicated things a bit as now he had to avoid two spooks as well as getting the memory stick.

Chuck could go nothing more than watch the monitors, he noticed that Sarah suddenly zeroed in of Otto Von Vogel. Sarah with that dress soon made friends with Otto.

"Um, Tommy. The CIA have got to Von Vogel first! You better get out of there."

"No Way. The game just got more interesting."

Chuck was force to start a high risk game of keeping the two opposing forces apart. It was made more difficult because Tommy wasn't obeying Chuck's directives. He found it easier to send Casey and Sarah on a wild goose chase to avoid Tommy. Tommy's effects were not successful in obtaining the memory stick and he was getting an itchy trigger finger and Chuck had to keep him away from his two handlers.

Finally Chuck saw that Tommy has been spotted so he hacked Otto's system and allowed Tommy to escape.

"Tommy, you've been made. Get out of there."

Tommy heard the warning quickly made his way though an open door and closed it. Chuck electronically locked it to stall Casey's and Sarah's pursuit of him.

"Chuck open the door." Casey ordered over the intercom

"I'm working on it. Just give me a minute."

"Work faster he's getting away." Sarah voice echoed in his ear.

"Almost got it." Chuck already had it but he was stalling so he could give Tommy a few extra seconds so he could slip by and then get away. He watched as Tommy moved from security camera to security camera, then he released the door. "Got it. Try it now!" he said with urgency.

Sarah and Casey quickly opened the door but Tommy was already gone, just like Chuck allowed it. Just so his handlers didn't think he was completely useless Chuck said over the microphone "He heading for the car park."

Chuck didn't think that Tommy would waste time trying to steal a car so he had to warn him to get moving. He got out of the van and creeped to where he could get a advantage point then he heard it. Just what he didn't want to hear. Gunshots.

Tommy squeezed off a couple of shots around the bumper of the car before he sprinted to the side of a building. His eyes scanned his new position to look for a way out, but the agents after him were closing in on his tail.

"Psst, Tommy. Over here."

Tommy recognized the voice coming from behind him. He looked around and saw Chuck gesturing for him to hurry on over. Tommy fired another shot before he quickly snuck his way over.

"What do you want? In case you haven't noticed I'm rather busy keeping avoiding two government agents that are after me" Tommy said. He fired a couple more shots to keep them pinned in their positions.

"Don't worry, duck down this alley way all the way down and turn left, there should be my company car." Chuck said as he threw Tommy the keys.

"Thanks, man. Anything else?"

"Please don't shoot my handlers. I know their doing their jobs and technically you're in the wrong okay?"

Tommy just glared at him!

"Um, also you need to hit me," Chuck said with some trepidation. "Make it look like you got the jump on me. I have to maintain plausible deniability with those two."

"Okay, will do."

Before Chuck could reply, Tommy hit Chuck on the jaw and Chuck was down for the count. Tommy's ring left a gash that would require stitches. Sarah and Casey found him lying in the alleyway. He came to with Sarah shaking him to wake up.

* * *

"So you just let him get away? And you let the Intersect get damaged?" Graham was understandably pissed. Beckman seemed no better.

"Sorry, sir and madam. We couldn't find any trace of him after he knocked out the asset." Casey was doing a good job maintaining such a stoic facade in the face of such scrutiny.

"I'm sorry the most," Chuck interjected. "I thought I saw him and wanted to get a closer look to make sure it was him. The next thing I know, I'm on my back in a dingy alleyway looking up at Sarah."

"Be quiet. If you can't keep out of danger, we might have to put you in a bunker for your own protection," Beckman fumed. "In the meantime, we are continuing our search for Tommy Delgado. As for you two, make sure that you keep the Intersect safe."

They signed off and left Sarah, Chuck, and Casey in his apartment. Sarah was tending to the cut on the side of his head from where Tommy hit him.

"Chuck," she started, "you have to stay in the car. I don't know how many times we have to tell you, but we can't protect you if you keep getting in dangerous situations like that. I, we could have lost you."

"Sorry again. I'll try harder to do what you and Casey say. And I'm sorry that you guys got in trouble for my actions."

She smiled warmly in response and finished bandaging him up. Chuck couldn't help but feel a little guilty over his deception.

* * *

Tommy's poker night went ahead even though he had a run in with Chuck's handlers. Thanks to Chuck's help Tommy managed to evade capture. Chuck was in two minds about attending as he still had a bandage on his chin from where Tommy hit him.

In order for Tommy's place to remain off the radar Chuck had to leave his GPS tracking watch behind. He had hacked into the surveillance that Casey kept on his own apartment. And to make sure that Chuck didn't arouse any suspicion from Casey and Sarah, he had looped the video surveillance in his own apartment to make it look like he was doing nothing particularly interesting. This would give him a window of opportunity to do something that his handlers would not be able to eavesdrop on him. He was free for approximately three hours.

He had hailed a cab to get to Tommy's; he got dropped off two blocks from his place and then walked the rest of the way. The best thing about poker night was that Chuck was a better player than the others. He usually ended up in front by the end of the night. Chuck didn't care about the money so he always made sure to lose often enough so not to create grudges from his other players.

He snuck home at 1 in the morning with the small amount of winnings in his pocket. He entered by the Morgan door and got in position to turn the looped feed off. Once that was achieved he got into bed knowing he pulled one over his handlers.

."


	11. Chapter 11: A Bit on the Side

Chapter 11: A Bit on the side.

At the usual Friday night drinks in the executive's suites there was a bit of a buzz happening and Chuck was the cause of it. Word had spread of Chuck's heroics the week before. It was not something that Chuck thought should get around, after all he was actually a reluctant double agent doing his best to avoid both sides from shooting at each other and more importantly him.

When Ted Roark arrived he was in a festive mood. He had a guest with him and Ted introduced him to Chuck.

"Chuck I want you to meet Lon Kirk."

"Hi. Pleased to meet you."

"The pleasure all mine!"

"Lon, here is the biggest philanthropist in the whole wide world." Ted bragged, "Well he almost has as much money as I do." He laughed. There was polite laughter all round, Ted wasn't the funniest of men but a little brown nosing can go along way at Roark.

"Chuck, I'm having a fundraiser down at the Marina on Sunday afternoon, why do you come and join us. You better dress to impress as the media will be present and you may make the gossip pages of the "Who Weekly". Well seeing that it's one of my publications I could guarantee it."

Chuck thought about it, he could be fun to take his buddy Morgan. It had been a while since the friends spend much time together. This could be a chance to catch up.

* * *

Chuck did think he could take Morgan, well he did think that until the CIA heard about it and made other plans.

"You'll be taking Agent Walker as your date Mr Bartowski and that's an order" the little general issued.

Chuck felt a large hand clamp down on his shoulder, Casey gave it a bit of a squeeze to inflict a little bit of pain and discomfort.

"You do know what happens on that yacht of his? Gambling, liquor and girls. Walker will be prefect arm candy."

Sarah ignored the remark; here was a chance to get a rise out of Chuck. She had the right outfit for the occasion and Chuck will have to grin and bear it. She wanted to see if she could make Chuck jealous by flirting with the other guests.

* * *

When Chuck returned to work the first call he made was to Ted.

"Chuck my boy, what can I do for you?"

"Ted, the CIA wants me to smuggle one of their agents onto the yacht tomorrow."

"Really, which one?"

"My handler, Sarah. You know the drop dead gorgeous blond."

"Don't worry boy, I'll be quite happy to keep a close eye on her!" Ted jested at Chuck

* * *

Casey sat in the van near the pier. Sarah got out of the van wearing a low cut black dress, it was practically backless. She had her hair down which added to her elegant but movie star style.

Chuck liked what he saw. It was written all over his face. Sarah noticed and gave Chuck a wink. Chuck, himself, was wearing a trendy sports jacket with black slacks.

"Ok, Walker here's your earpiece and the bugs to placed near his computer. Put this one near the ship's controls so we can trace his boat later on."

Sarah put in her earpiece and said goodbye.

Chuck and Sarah entered the boat and took a tour with the other guests, Sarah playing her part as his estranged girlfriend; they were greeted personally by Lon Kirk. Sarah gave him flirtatious smile in return. Throughout the tour Sarah had to plant some bugs. She entered the engine room and planted the first bug.

Casey acknowledged it.

Sarah walked up to the main deck and strolled up to the bar where Lon Kirk was standing having a drink. She created another persona to play, a ditzy blond with a not such attentive boyfriend and she was looking for attention elsewhere. Her role playing would hopefully get Lon Kirk to take notice. She twirled her hair in her fingers and nursed a drink. After a while it worked, she got Lon Kirk's attention.

Lon brought up a chair beside her. "Hi, I noticed you sitting here by yourself. Are you not interested in trying your luck at the tables?"

"No, but my boyfriend is. I'm Sarah. It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you Sarah as well."

Chuck was worried, Sarah had planted so many bugs, Chuck lost track of where she put them, He was hoping that Lon Kirk's crew were not the talkative type, loose lips sinks ships or Fulcrum, or Roark and Chuck.

And now she had disappeared with Lon Kirk, to heighten his anxiety. He did not like where this was going.

Casey picked up on it. "Don't worry Chuck, she's just doing her job."

Chuck disliked this part of the job; she didn't have to put on a show. What about us? What about what we have? He started getting nervous sitting at the crap table. To distract himself he placed a few small bets, he didn't win anything so he stopped and sipped his drink. He tried to calm himself but it didn't help when he overheard Lon ask Sarah if she wanted to go upstairs to his sitting room.

Chuck noticed that his hand began to shake, he was lucky that he didn't spill any of the drink he had in his hand, he took the safe option of placing his drink on the table. His nervousness made him sit on the edge of his chair. He didn't like the idea of Sarah being alone especially with Lon Kirk, a billionaire playboy.

Sarah and Lon walked up the stairs as the party unfolded downstairs.

Sarah kept talking to allow Casey to hear what was going on in case he needed to come in and take the boat down. She found a chair near the window (easy access just in case).

Lon poured them some champagne and sat down beside Sarah.

Sarah took a sip from her glass and cuddled a little closer to him. Lon started to talk about his reasons for holding the fundraiser. Sarah pretended to find him fascinating as she continued to get him into a situation that she hoped would give them some Intel.

Lon Kirk whistled like a Canary when Sarah leaned in and gave him a kiss.

Chuck wasn't sure what he was feeling. He tried playing some craps but he hated losing money, even if it was the Governments. He thought that Blackjack might take his mind off the fears and anxiety he had close bubbling to the surface. After three hands in which he busted each time he gave up.

Chuck regretted that he was wired up. He was sure that the sound he was hearing was that of someone kissing. Was Sarah kissing Lon or did Lon have his hands all over her and was kissing her? Chuck started to get very upset. He looked around the yacht, he needed to see where Sarah was, he kept looking, and he had to find room that Sarah was in. The closest one was in the stairwell and all he could see was a hand caressing a shoulder which belonged to Sarah.

He closed his eyes because it hurt to watch Sarah with another man, he felt like he was going to be sick. Seeing Sarah with another man was making his stomach curl. Now he knew he was unwell, he hurried down to the side of the yacht and vomited overboard. Unfortunately Ted Roark spotted him and wandered over.

"Feeding the fish there Chuck!" he slapped him hard on his back "what got no see legs? We haven't even left the docks yet!" and then returned to the circle he was chatting to.

* * *

She heard through the earpiece that the mission was aborted. It wasn't her call, she thought it was all going well but when she realized where Lon's hands had been she knew that it had to involve Chuck. Sarah coughed in acknowledgement.

She wasn't sure why it happened but she wasn't happy about it. Sarah threw down her earpiece and took her shoes off. She didn't like missions that ended too quickly for no valid reason. She was sitting in the front of Casey's van and she was steaming.

Sarah turned to him. "Why are we back so soon?"

"Your boyfriend's sick, he's been heaving his guts out." Casey replied.

Sarah looked behind her, there was no one else in the van

"So where is he now?"

"He's over there on the park bench next to the rubbish bin."

* * *

Chuck sat on the couch replaying the afternoon's events. He wasn't very happy with how things had ended with Sarah. She hadn't been too pleased to abort a mission, and from the look she'd given him he knew he'd blew it. His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. Chuck opened it.

Sarah stormed into the apartment. "Is Ellie or Awesome home?"

"No, they're at work and hello to you too."

Sarah walked into the living room and turned towards Chuck as he closed the door behind her.

"What the hell happened today?"

"I – I don't know – I felt ill, I was vomiting in front of my boss."

"Right when I went upstairs with Kirk. It's pretty convenient timing, wouldn't you say?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Just when you thought that I was getting intimate with Kirk you decided to be sick!"

"What exactly are you implying?"

"Look, Chuck, I know it's hard, but today, you had to be a spy first! I think we need to discuss the fact that you let your emotions get in the way today!"

"My emotions!" Chuck replied taking a defensive stance. "I'm not like you, Sarah. I can't turn my emotions on and off like some robot. I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. I've haven't been acting like myself today."

"Are you done feeling sorry for yourself?"

"Personally, I'd like another ten to 15 minutes of really pathetic self-indulgence, but the truth is, it's over. I want to break up."

"You want to break up?"

"Well, I want to fake break up our fake relationship."

Chuck paused to let the words sink in. He knew Sarah wouldn't like what she was going to hear next but he was going to give it to her with both barrels.

"I realized a couple of things over the past couple of weeks and it started when we were under the truth serum. I think I had a pretty decent life until the Intersect got dumped in my head. True I got kicked out of Stanford but I still managed to secure a great job at Roark. And then you load this damn Intersect into my head. You tricked me and it was unfair. But this is a burden I now have to bear, but that does not mean I have to stop pursuing my dreams. One of my dreams is to find a woman to share my life with, and I am not going to have that if I am pretending to have a relationship with you. And I don't want you to put a hold on any part of your life either on account of me."

"Wow, how noble of you! The answer is no."

"But Sarah..."

"Chuck, it's my job to be in your life to protect you. That means I need access to you at any time without raising suspicions," Sarah replied as she shot him a frosty look. Chuck fidgeted on his couch, wondering if he could just bolt for his front door.

"Sarah, I can't do this anymore, Okay. When I saw you with Lon Kirk on the yacht I got physically sick, I threw up over the side in front of my boss. And if that wasn't embarrassing enough, seeing you with Kirk made me incredibly jealous. There I said it. I'm jealous. I'm jealous and emotional and when I'm emotional I can't flash. If I can't flash then I'm putting everyone at risk. And I just hate the idea of putting you in danger."

He slumped his shoulders and then turned away from her, he paused before continuing,

"Sarah, you could protect me just as well if we were friends. It would be a lot easier for the both of us. And you know where I am most of the time, anyway. Please?"

* * *

"Hey Manoosh, I want you to have a look at these." Chuck had hold of the glasses that Bryce had given him. After the updated download the glasses shorted out and only little bits of images were available to view by the next user.

"That looks like a pair of cheap sunglasses." Manoosh enquired.

"You know how I've been saying on how the Government uses subliminal technology for intersect downloads , well this is a set of glasses that had an update on it. The glasses shorted out after I got an update but you can still get a few images on what's left of them."

Chuck handed over to Manoosh the sunglasses that Larkin had used to give Chuck an upload. After trying the glasses on the new employee had a close look at the ruined circuitry.

"You won't mind if I have a fiddle with these glasses do you?"

"No go ahead, if you get anything more out of them then let me know."

Manoosh took the glasses off then returned to his desk and opened his briefcase, he kept an assortment of tools with him and he would see if he could do anything. The office also had a voltage tester and a soldering iron for Manoosh's disposal.

* * *

It was mid morning in Lou's deli and Sarah was preparing for the lunchtime rush. She was surprised when Chuck walked in, he must have reconsidered. No he didn't, he gave her a quick wave of his hand then walked straight past her to the other end of the counter to her boss, Lou. Hello something going on, they both smiled at each other, it was sickening.

"Do you want a sandwich?"

"Yeah. I'll take a sandwich."

"Great. What'll you have?"

"You guys carry wheat bread?"

"We do."

"Why don't you grab a couple slices of that? Now, toss them and grab the seedless rye. And while you're at it, grab some pastrami. End cut, none of that lean crap."

"A man with high cholesterol. Is that it?"

"Oh, I'm just getting warmed up."

"Coleslaw? On the side?"

"On the top, lather it on."

"Swiss?"

"Muenster."

"Is that it?"

"Well, after you shut it down and grill, this is a hot sandwich, sweetheart."

"Oh my, you are such a flirt!"

Sarah could only watch as her asset was flirting with her boss. Talk about disrespect. He was doing this in front of her and she didn't like, not one bit.

Chuck insisted on paying for his lunch, Lou offered it was on the house, but Chuck wouldn't have a bar of it. He took his sandwich in a white paper bag and said something Sarah couldn't hear. Lou had a big smile on her face as she watched Chuck turn and walk out of the Deli. He didn't acknowledge Sarah on the way out.

* * *

Sarah knew now that he was serious and so during her regular mission briefing she informed her superiors.

Beckman was most definitely not pleased.

"I don't like it. Breaking up will unnecessarily complicate matters. It's difficult enough keeping an eye on him when he's at work, but now he's even further from our watch? We can't have a wild card asset doing whatever he wants where we can't keep tabs on him. Get him under control; what are we paying you for?"

Graham, in his usual grumpy tone,

"Agent Walker, impress upon him that it is for his own protection that he has you around as a handler. The Intersect is far too important to be left unattended. Re-establish your cover, it is the best way to handle the situation," Graham finished with a frown.

* * *

Chuck took one more moment to straighten out his hair before picking up Lou for their date. He failed and decided his hair was going to keep doing what it wanted, despite his efforts to fix it.

A knock on his door drew his attention. He walked over and looked through the peephole. Seeing Sarah, he opened the door with a fair amount of confusion. The look on her face was discomfortingly neutral.

"Hello, Sarah. What brings you here? I'm on my way out, but you can walk with me to my car. You know, make sure no one tries to kidnap me," he tried to joke awkwardly. Sarah was still frustratingly blank, but she followed him as he went on his way.

"Chuck, we have to talk. It's about our cover."

"I thought we already went over this? We can be cover friends. It will allow you to stay close to me, but not in a way that will keep us from having our own lives."

"Well, if it's any conciliation, I never felt like our time together was work."

A feeling of exasperation and defensiveness welled up in Chuck. He liked Sarah, but he was trying to keep his distance for a lot of reasons. Now it seemed that she was trying to wiggle her way back in, which would put him back in a bad situation.

Chuck nodded. "I know that, Sarah. I know you just want to keep me safe, but I still want to have my own life. Also, a little semblance of privacy would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your dedication, but nobody else knows I'm the Intersect."

"Chuck, you are very valuable-"

"You mean the Intersect is very valuable," Chuck cut in. He felt like a jerk, but also felt justified.

"It's not just that. Listen…" Sarah paused for a moment and tried to gather her thoughts. This conversation was turning into a minefield, and she was running in without a metal detector. "It is my job to make sure you are safe. I understand you might be feeling invaded and trapped with the CIA and NSA keeping close tabs on you, but it is for your safety. Not only are we focused on your well-being, but there is valuable government information in your head. We have to keep that safe as well."

They reached the garage and were close to Chuck's car. Sarah wanted to finish things up and try to go forward in re-establishing their cover before Chuck left for his date. Unfortunately, she was facing desperate circumstances.

"I have been ordered to re-establish our dating cover. It is the best way to keep you protected-"

"I'm seeing someone already," Chuck cut in with what felt like a cold tone of finality to Sarah. "I'll see you tomorrow, Friend."

He got in his car, locked the doors, started the car and sped off. Sarah felt disappointment, frustration, and a bit of anger at how this was all getting handled.

* * *

"That might be a little complicated to do since the asset has moved on to someone else," Casey cut in, trying to hide a smirk. "Soon after he dumped Walker, he started dating a civilian."

"And that is why you need to get him back under control. You can't be surprised by revelations like these," Graham grumped.

Sarah flushed a bit at being so out of the loop. "Yes sir. I will do what I can to watch him." Starting with a thorough background check on her boss.

Casey couldn't resist the dig. "Are you sure you're not jealous about him dumping you?"

"You know, I haven't been on such a great date in a while. I'm really enjoying the night. And I hope you're enjoying the sandwich," Lou said. She was relaxing against the counter with satisfaction as she watched Chuck savor the sandwich.

"I'm having a great time myself. You have got to have an amazing palette to pull such incredible sandwiches off. You are a true culinary artist."

Chuck finished the sandwich and wiped his hands with a napkin. Lou moved over to sit in his lap and put her arms around him. He was nuzzling her neck when he happened to look up and catch a symbol on a bulletin board on the wall.

The Government Intersect kicked in and hammered him with information on one Stavros Demetrios. He seized up a bit in his usual reaction, hoping Lou wouldn't notice.

"Chuck, is something wrong?" she asked as she stepped back to get a good look at him.

Chuck shook the effects of the flash off and tried to cover. "Oh, I'm good. I was just about to sneeze, but I didn't. And I was hoping not to break the romance of the scene for that."

As they continued their date, Chuck used the Fulcrum Intersect to search for any information on Stavros Demetrios. It took a while for it to booted up, but one of its best features was multitasking. That meant that Chuck could use it while he was focusing on Lou's erogenous zones. About an hour later, he got a comprehensive report on Demetrios. He finished with Lou's erogenous zones about an hour after that.

* * *

"And what about Stavros? What did you find out about him?"

"He's an independent shipper who occasionally works with us. We're one of his clients, and he is shipping something for us. Our package should arrive tonight. Tommy is heading this operation."

"Okay then. It seems like we should keep the CIA from getting involved then. Right, Chuck?"

"Don't worry, Ted. I haven't told Sarah or Casey anything about it. Besides, it's nothing dangerous."

Down at the docks, Tommy was waiting for his container to be opened, one of his goons swung open the container and then went inside. He quickly called out to Tommy when he found something unusual. Inside the container was a food wrappers littered around, things like empty bottles of water and candy wrappers. As Tommy went inside to investigate, he heard a familiar car horn blast outside. As he stuck his head outside he could see Bryce Larkin stealing his beloved car and driving away.


	12. Chapter 12: No Turning Back

**Here a chance to enjoy some light Christmas reading. The chapter is call No Turning back because Chuck will be put into a situation that he can no longer walk away from.**

 **Chapter 12: No turning back**

It was late in the day and Chuck was signing off reports and progress updates to the projects he was in charge of, when Chuck looked up to see Ted Roark standing there by the door of his office.

"Hey, there you are. How's all the projects going?"

"Well I'm just signing off on the current updates now."

"Great. I'll look at the later!"

Instinct told Chuck that this would be more than just Ted wanting progress reports, Ted could log in at anytime for updates, but when he came to pay you a visit there was always something more.

"Are you busy tonight? There is a small favour I want to ask you."

To Ted small favours were like large favours, he did large favours and you did small favours when in reality it was actually the other way round. Chuck was working on the idea of taking Lou out for a late dinner, he hadn't told her so as there wasn't any solid plans yet, and Wednesday was usually the night when Lou stayed back at work and get all her accounts in order.

"One of my programmers has gone away on holidays and he forgot to send in his latest work on the Rhinestone Project. I want you to meet the locksmith I'm sending to his house. The locksmith will let you in so you can get the data off his hard drive. Like I said it's just a small favour."

Chuck found out that the programmer only lived a short walk from his apartment complex so he would drive home and then walked to meet up with the locksmith. He was waiting for about ten minutes for the other person arrived.

The locksmith rolled up in a black SUV and was surprised that Chuck was already there.

"Are you the locksmith? Chuck greeted him.

He got a grunt for a reply.

"I think there is someone home. I've seen lights flick on and off."

The locksmith was dressed in all black and carried a small bag as he got out of the vehicle. He carefully closed the van door so not to make a noise. He assessed the scene and turned to Chuck.

"It could be security lights on a timer, programmed to turn on and off to make it look as if someone is home!"

Chuck followed the man in black up the driveway to the front door. He fidgeted a little while the locksmith picked the lock.

"Do I really need to be here?" he asked.

"I don't know. Why are you here?" he returned.

"Mr Roark is always talking about having some skin in the game, so he just wanted me to come along and collect the software."

"Stay right there and let me do my part of the job first." With that, he opened the door and entered with his gun drawn. Chuck was mortified by the man's actions.

Chuck wondered why a locksmith would be carrying a gun as he waited outside for a few minutes while the man disappeared inside. All Chuck knew was that Emmett Milbarge was a computer scientist in Fulcrum, and was notorious for constructing fanciful security measures for his programs. Chuck didn't know that Emmett had also recently betrayed Fulcrum. Chuck had never seriously thought about betraying Fulcrum, but he was aware that the consequences were severe.

He was broken out of his thoughts when he heard a brief conversation and shouting. Chuck made his way inside the apartment and heard the report of a silenced pistol. Chuck stopped short in a doorway and saw the man that he had come with putting his gun away. Emmett was slumped in a chair, a look of horror marred by a gunshot wound between the eyes.

"Oh my god, what happened?" Chuck was miraculously able to squeak out from his shock.

"Orders," the man said flatly. "He betrayed Fulcrum, and I was given orders to eliminate him. That's just what happens."

Chuck's brain was frozen in astonishment and fear over the scene. Sure, he knew that Fulcrum was trying to gain influence and power in the world but he wasn't prepared for the dirty side of this business. This was the side that was dirty, brutal and violent. Chuck spent most of his time in the office or down in the computer lab. He may have been vaguely aware of what was now sharply focused into full realization at that moment.

"Listen," the assassin started when he saw Chuck begin to freak out, "he was a loose end, and would have continued doing more damage. He had to be eliminated to keep everyone else safe." He paused for a moment, trying to determine where else Chuck's thoughts might go. "And honestly, the established government works the same way. I'm still with the CIA, and I have to do this stuff all the time. Actually, I just eliminated another agent a couple of hours ago that was selling secrets to some country."

He stopped when he noticed that Chuck appeared to just have a spasm attack, he wondered if Chuck was going to collapse. Chuck took a few moments to collect himself after the flash because now he knew all he needed to know about the assassin.

Clyde Dekker was a long time CIA agent that had received a lot of recognition and commendations early in his career but like many of his era were prone to hard drinking, lately his attitude and competence had come under notice and more than once he had been force to front the review board for his lack of discipline.

"How can you be so blasé about the whole thing? You just killed a man, and you look totally disinterested. No offense."

"None taken. Well, I guess I've just been doing this a long time." The killer paused,"with pretty much any intelligence agency, whether legitimate or not, the methods are pretty much the same. Sometimes with you science types, your eyes are so glued to your computer screens or down your microscopes or slides or or whatever, that you don't see all the other stuff that goes on. And if some of you do see it, you don't see anything wrong with it. You know, the whole ends justify the means stuff. Well, that's kind of the same approach with a lot of people, especially those in power. If you keep your eyes up and focused on the 'greater good', then you won't notice that you're walking on a pile of corpses to get there."

Chuck closed his eyes and saw what Clyde had just talked about in his mind's eye. He shivered. "Well, I don't think I'm one of those people. Or at least, I didn't. I mean, it bothers me since I'm looking at a corpse and the guy that just made said corpse. This is the first time I've actually been this close to an assassination, and I am feeling it."

"Well don't puke anywhere! You don't want to contaminate a crime scene." Clyde wasn't too sure what he was supposed to say. "Just keep in mind that there are other scientists who would experience this as a slight inconvenience to their work. And I'm not talking about just Fulcrum."

Faintly nodding, Chuck shuffled over to the computer and got to work. He had to push Emmett and his chair back so he could have some room to do the task Roark had assigned him. He lost himself in the maze of security that Emmett had constructed. He believed he was still a good person, but he was beginning to doubt that. But then, what was so different to the work he was doing for the CIA? There was too much confusion there, so Chuck just focused on his work. Time passed, he didn't know how much, but he eventually got in and was able to take Emmett's work.

Clyde startled Chuck a bit when he said, "If you want to survive, you better be indispensable. And understand that there are sacrifices in this line of work."

"Thanks for the warning."

* * *

Thursday morning and Chuck dragged his sorry ass into his office and slumped into his chair. He already had to stop an argument between Harry Tang and rest of his team. Harry's coffee making standards had dropped away lately so he wasn't in the best of moods. His reverie was broken by his office phone.

"Hello, Chuck Bartowski speaking."

 _"Hey, Chuck. Come up to my office."_

"I'm on my way, Ted."

He stood up and made his way up to Ted's office. Ted's secretary let him into the office, where Ted was waiting.

"What's going on?" Chuck asked.

"Thanks for doing that favour last night. I really appreciate it."

Chuck was speechless, this man had send Chuck off to be an accomplice to a murder. He acted as if it was no big deal. What next was this man going to do to him.

"But there is more." Ted began. "We have a couple of concerns. Concerns that concern your rather tenuous position with the government."

"Listen, I'm trying to get them off my back, but they're really persistent."

"We know that you're trying to keep everything at arm's length," Tommy said, "but you now have got skin in the game. You're now in the big league playing ball with the big boys"

"Playing ball?" Chuck thought it was a poor analogy.

"You have skin in the game now Chuck, it is real now, and if we fail, you fail with us." Tommy warned.

* * *

Friday night drinks in the executives suites was embarrassing, word had got around that Chuck now had "Skin in the game." He was high fived and had received many friendly pats on his back as he moved around the corporate big wigs. He certainly wasn't in a festive mood like all of the rest of them, he had saw first hand of the path he and others were trending and it made him sick.

After couple of stiff drinks he realised that he was starting to get concerned by quantity of his drinking. For the first time he began to doubt all the trust he had put in Ted Roark. He had thought that the great Ted Roark looked after his welfare but he now sensed that he was a pawn on a giant chessboard waiting for a more powerful piece to remove him permanently from the game.

It was a relief when he got a one word text from Sarah saying 'Castle'. His other life was calling and he had to go. He turned his phone off straight away so Lou couldn't message him. He excused himself by going to the toilet then ducking out by taking the fire stairs to the car park and he exited by driving to his next rendezvous. He hoped he hadn't drank enough to be pulled over by the Highway Patrol.

"Fortunately, he was able to give up the location of the weapons cache. That was a good job you did tonight," Beckman finished.

"Thanks, yeah, it was great," Chuck replied, trying to hide the fact that he was still under the influence of the alcohol he had consumed earlier in the night. While on the mission, he flashed on the guy that they were supposed to bust. Unfortunately, he was Fulcrum and Chuck's inhibitions were down by all the bourbon he consumed earlier in the afternoon. When he sobered up he would feel conflicted over not being able to do anything to protect him. Not while his handlers were there.

* * *

It was a beautiful Saturday morning outside. The sky was cloudless; the temperature at just the right point where one could comfortably wear or not wear a jacket. The early morning sun was brightening up the day in the small park beside Chuck's apartment complex. Chuck was sitting on a park bench with a steaming cup of coffee, he was clearing his head after last night. He took the opportunity at attempting to fine tune his custom made Fulcrum intersect. He was checking the connecting macros for all of the programs and lines of thinking he was pursuing. He was absolutely still, as if he was doing his morning meditation. He didn't notice Bryce come up to him.

"Chuck. Hey, Chuck!" Bryce waved a hand in Chuck's face.

It took a little while for him to respond then Chuck looked up and saw Bryce.

"Bryce?" he answered not-so-shrewdly.

"Hey dude, how's it going?" Bryce said when he saw Chuck give little response. He didn't pause to think about Chuck's non-reaction, chalking it up to shock at seeing him.

"Hi..." Chuck replied intelligently. He didn't quite have the presence of mind to realize he should try to get back to the outside world. He was so engrossed with what he was thinking he couldn't put any attention on what Bryce was trying to tell him. I'll pretend that I am listening.

 _Bryce is trying to tell me something. How do I maintain the cover in this situation? Should I be freaked out over him being here?_

Unable to come up with anything else, Chuck was too engrossed with all the programs running in his head while listening to Bryce.

"…and it's because of all of the stuff I've been doing. I mean, I got too close. So I needed to find a suitable host for the Intersect as per Project Omaha."

The term _Project Ohama_ activated the Government Intersect. However, with the Fulcrum Intersect still in heavy use, the two Intersects clashed. The Fulcrum Intersect was hammered closed by the brutal Government Intersect, causing Chuck to become lightheaded and making Chuck feel decidedly ill. Chuck staggered at the violent clash of the two Intersects. His brain told him he was spinning around in circles and that he was actually upside down while his body fell to the ground. He vaguely registered Bryce yelling something as he lost consciousness.

Chuck slowly came to in the passenger seat of a car. He blearily looked to his left and saw Bryce driving. Chuck felt fuzzy and nauseous, and the car ride wasn't doing anything to counteract that. Bryce noticed his old friend was waking up and gave a small smile.

"Hey, sorry about that. Was it something I said?" He gave Chuck a charming smile.

Chuck gurgled in reply. He brought himself into a more upright position in his seat. The movement made his stomach roil.

"Is it always that bad?" Bryce asked, looking at Chuck in concern.

"Ugh, not always. Pull over I'm going to be sick!"

Bryce pulled over straight away and Chuck managed to get the door open and vomited into the gutter.

"Are you all right buddy?"

"Yeah, sometimes the Intersect is so brutal it just knocks you into next week. I glad I didn't get the car."

Bryce grunted. "Not too worried about the car. It's not mine."

"Really? Whose is it?"

"The guy that was trying to recruit me to Fulcrum. Tommy Delgado," Bryce said with a smirk.

 _Crap, this is Tommy's car?_ Chuck thought to himself as he looked around. _This must be the '67_ _Mustang_ _he's been restoring and can't shut up about. He is going to be pissed._

Chuck and Bryce arrived at Casey's apartment in short order. They figured that it would be safe, and that Casey had the place rigged to alert him to any intruders. That would be enough to get Sarah and him there.

"Alright, they're probably on their way now. Is there anything you want to tell me?" Chuck asked.

"Not quite yet. I'd rather wait for everyone to get here so I don't have to repeat myself. Just get them ready to listen." Bryce ended with a slight glare. Chuck only shrugged sheepishly.

"Hold on, can you give me my cell phone back? I need to call work and tell them I'm late."

Bryce reached into his pocket and tossed it to Chuck. When Bryce closed the bathroom door, Chuck sent a message to Ted. He held it close to him to make sure no cameras picked up the message.

 _I'm with Bryce Larkin. I'll see what he knows_

Chuck finished and quickly put his cell back in his pocket as Bryce stepped out of the bathroom looking more refreshed than before. He had splashed some water on his face and combed his hair before exiting. At that moment, Casey and Sarah burst in with guns drawn. Before Chuck could say anything, Casey shot Bryce.

"BRYCE!" Chuck and Sarah shouted as Bryce fell over from the impact.

Chuck collapsed into a nearby chair at the sight of someone actually getting shot in front of him. Sarah ran over to Bryce's side. She opened his shirt up to show the bulletproof vest underneath. He stirred and looked up at Casey.

"Sorry that you can't kill me again, Casey?" Bryce asked in a mocking, but pained, tone.

"How about I put one right between your eyes? That should make sure you're dead," Casey growled out.

"Casey, wait!" Chuck shouted. He got his and Sarah's attention. "Don't shoot him. I had a flash about the mission he was on. He's not Fulcrum."

"Well then," Casey said with his gun still trained on Bryce. "You better start talking before my finger gets itchy again."

"Alright, I'll tell you as much as I can," Bryce answered as Sarah helped him to his feet.

"I was approached by Fulcrum agent a few months ago. I played along to find out what they wanted. But what they wanted was a working copy of the government intersect. How he knew that I was involved with the intersect project is a mystery to me. I felt like giving him a download and frying his brains like all our other volunteers. I talked to my bosses in the CIA, they had been disappointed that the Intersect Project was not getting the results they wanted but they also wanted me with keeping the Intersect out of Fulcrum's grasp. I made it look that the Intersect project was permanently destroyed. But I need a working prototype so I sent a good copy of it to Chuck."

"So you tried to protect the Intersect and your reputation by sending it to me?" Chuck asked. You could have fried my brain!"

"I knew you of all people could handle it, your results from Stanford confirmed it. It was a risk I thought was worth taking!"

Chuck shook his head in disbelief. He was not impressed with his former roommate.

"I would have contacted you sooner, but our past history delayed that." Bryce said

Sarah was looking at Bryce with a mixture of disbelief, relief, and confusion. She was relieved Bryce was safe, but didn't completely believe his story. Having the experience from their past gave her a sense of distrust towards him.

"I followed a couple of Fulcrum agents, I don't think they were all that bright, they never cottoned on that they had a tail" He grinned a bit at the memory. "They had a warehouse in Germany. They were monitoring a shipment from Roark Instruments"

Bryce looked troubled at the next thing.

"I remembered that Chuck works at Roark. I'm worried that he could be at risk?"

Chuck clasped his hands together to hide the fact they were shaking and struck a thoughtful pose.

"Roark Instruments is in the business of creating leading edge technology. And we do have a manufacturing plant in Germany. Perhaps Fulcrum is interested in taking some of our equipment, which is still in the design and testing phase and still far away from getting any sort of release. This stuff is highly advanced, and we are keeping it under tight wrap for fear of a security leak."

"Chuck, do you know what this equipment is capable of? Why would Fulcrum want it?" Sarah asked.

Chuck was glad she said that. It was great she chose to be on his side. She wasn't suspicious of him, and helped steer the conversation away from anything that might have gotten too uncomfortable for Chuck. That was one of the reasons he liked her. She always had his best interests in mind. Chuck knew he had to continue that wave of thought so he could keep control of the conversation and allay suspicion.

"I'm not sure what that shipment was, but I can check," Chuck said with a growing confidence. "It's possible Fulcrum might be trying to sabotage the hardware or take it for their own purposes."

"Chuck…" Bryce tried to cut in.

Chuck barrelled forward. "This would be bad news. If our next generation equipment gets in the hands of Fulcrum, who knows what they could do."

"There's also the possibility…" Bryce said before Chuck cut him off again.

"That means I've got to get to Roark as quick as possible. I'll call you when I find out."

Chuck couldn't let them stop him." I have to find out what's in that shipment so that we can see why Fulcrum is interested in it."

"Hold on…"

"I am going, Bryce. Sarah and Casey are the best; they will ensure I'm fine. We'll get to the bottom of this."

Chuck didn't give him much of a chance to respond, or think about the situation, as he ran out the door.

Graham put the phone back on its receiver and leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers in front of him. He was analysing what Larkin had reported to him. So Fulcrum was tracking a shipment of computer equipment from Roark's European complex to its head office in Los Angeles. Langston Graham's sixth sense was telling him there was something more to Roark than what was publicly on display. The fact that his best agent was babysitting a Roark programmer who had the Government's intersect in his head and the said programmer was far from cooperative. The asset was very averse to his protection detail. It was understandable if an average citizen didn't like his life getting intruded on, but he or she should be able to better forgive it for protection.

Throw in the personal relationship that Larkin had with Bartowski lead Graham to believe there was more to be investigated. Graham decided better surveillance must be kept on the asset. It was for his own protection. And Graham couldn't help but feel slightly suspicious of Bartowski. He felt it in his gut, and he had learned to listen to that feeling to get what his mind missed. Bartowski needed a closer eye kept on him.

 **AN: So Chuck is now questioning his loyalty to his billionaire boss.**

 **If you find my characters have no redeeming qualities remember they are spies, they rob, cheat, steal , lie and kill for a living!**


	13. Chapter 13: Food Fight

**So to all you Charah shippers, finally after 13 chapters you get what you want.**

 **Chapter 13: Food fight**

Chuck had spent most of Saturday night with Lou but he wasn't keen to spend all of Sunday having to mingle with Lou's family. Lou was nice but her family was certainly on the wrong side of crazy. He had met them a few times already and thought they were too incestuous for his liking. He used the excuse that he was required to spend time at work to get away from her. He drove off to work and sat in the car park for a moment when he got a text from Casey. He knew Lou would be gone by now and it would be safe to return home.

A knock on the door alerted everyone to Sarah's arrival. She entered with nary a glance at Chuck. Chuck could see that she had been out exercising by the gym clothes she was wearing. She also didn't have her make up on so she was flushed in the face. She settled in her seat and put on an aloof air.

"Glad you could finally make it, Walker," Casey grunted.

"Let's just get this over with," she replied coolly.

Chuck's ringtone cut her off this time. He reached into his pocket, took it out, and saw Lou's picture. Sarah looked surprised and miffed, especially when he answered it.

"Lou? I…"

Sarah grabbed the phone out of his hand and put it to her ear. "Listen, we're really busy now, so call back later. You can talk to him when I'm done with him."

 _"Who is this? I want to talk to Chuck."_

"This is Sarah."

 _"His ex?"_

"Yeah. Call back later."

She hung up and looked back at Chuck, who stared in utter disbelief.

"Did you just…"

"It's over Chuck, no more fooling around. You won't be eating off her menu from now on. You're mine and no-one else's. You understand me. From tomorrow you will have nothing more to do with her or else, she'd be six foot under 'comprenez vous'."

* * *

Monday morning Chuck arrived at work with his best friend Morgan Grimes. Morgan had the day off and had personal business in the neighbourhood of Chuck's work. Chuck had offered Morgan a ride, they also had a chance to catch up.

Meanwhile inside Lou's Deli.

"What's up, Blondie?" Lou drawled. The brunette leaned against the counter, mouth wrapped around a swiggle stick.

"He's mine, bitch."

Lou thoughtfully considered this statement for a few moments. Finally, a crooked smile appeared. Lou deemed they were no longer playing nice. That suited her just fine.

"Really? I don't see your name on him. And believe me, I plan on branding him all over."

"You do realise your tits are lopsided," Sarah informed her foe.

"With those teeth you look like Bugs Bunny," Lou shot back.

"You don't have the legs to pull off those shorts," Sarah said.

"You barely have enough luggage to fill your bra," Lou returned fire.

The girls continued to trade insults until Lou pick up a sauce bottle and squeeezed the contents at Sarah and hit her on her flank. Game on bitch as Sarah threw a handful of margarine that hit Lou on the forehead.

Outside in the plaza, at the windows, a crowd had formed. Mostly men, watching with interest at the sight of two sandwich girls fighting. A trio of college boys on vacation from Nebraska had front row seats. They all had their mobile phones out and were recording the action.

"Dude," one of the trio said, "tell me you're getting this."

"Man, I'm getting it, I'm getting it," he assured.

Around that time, the two buddies entered the plaza and immediately noticed the crowd gathered at the windows looking into the deli.

"What's going on?" Chuck wondered.

"Ooh!" Morgan cried. "Maybe there is a robbery going on."

Before Chuck could stop him, Morgan made a beeline for the windows. With a sigh, Chuck walked after his best buddy. Approaching the windows, he asked the three college students: "Hey. What's going on?"

"Dude," one of the guys said, "there are two babes having a cat fight in there."

Chuck pinched the bridge of his nose, fighting back the oncoming headache. He'd really, really hoped the tension he detected between Sarah and Lou had been a figment of his imagination. He looked up just in time to see a food covered Sarah, throwing condiments at the woman who was her boss.

"I said he's mine, you filthy skank!" Chuck heard Sarah shout through the glass.

"I gotta break them up," he declared.

The others protested as he found the door and entered the deli. Chuck stepped inside to a deli that had food thrown everywhere. At one end was a technicoloured Sarah, she was covered in food and sauces, the other end was a fallen Lou, she had slipped and fallen hard during the course of the battle and found it difficult to stand up. Chuck was grateful that no knives were thrown, because that wouldn't be ketchup on the floor.

"Suck it, bitch," Sarah spat at her fallen adversary. "I quit!" "Whore."

"Sarah!" Chuck shouted, horrified by the scene before him. "What did you do?"

Sarah stumbled a bit, the battle taking its toll on her as well. But she narrowed her eyes at the man in front from her. Unsteadily she approached, and without any warning, she reared back and slapped Chuck across the kisser. The geek took a couple of steps back, more stunned than injured.

"What the hell was that for?"

"Are you kidding me?" Sarah incredulously asked. "I've been watching you flirt with that skank for two weeks now! You didn't have the decency to pick another delicatessen. And for six months I've watched you chase after every decent looking brunette that bats her eyelashes at you. Now kiss me."

"Why?"

"Because if you don't then I'm gonna send you into the deepest bunker I can find and you'll never see daylight again." She threatened in a low voice.

While kissing his food covered handler he heard her whisper, "Put some feeling into it if you know what's good for you."

* * *

Chuck wasn't happy, he had Sarah sitting in the front seat of his company car doing untold damage to his upholstery with all the food stains, sauces, and God know what other fluids Sarah had dripping off her. She had demanded that he take her back to her hotel so she could clean up, that's why they were using his car, and not Sarah's. She wouldn't want to leave stains in her car.

Fortunately for Chuck the lobby of the hotel was fairly empty; he would not get that embarrassed by accompanying a multi-stained girl back to her room. Sarah led the way and used her key card to enter her room. She barked the first order to Chuck.

"Go to the bathroom and start running my shower!"

"Yes Ma'am."

Chuck went to the bathroom and turned the taps on and started the shower.

"You are going to have to scrub the stains out of my clothes!"

"But I will get wet."

"Well take your clothes off then it won't matter!"

"But."

"Look I have so much food gunk in my eyes I can barely see. Come on strip off."

Chuck finally relented, he stripped off, careful not to get too close to Sarah as she was all slimy. He made sure his clothes were well out of the way before returning and guiding Sarah into the shower. The water was warm and it changed colour as it cascaded off Sarah's torso. Chuck was armed with a cake of soap and a loofah. He lathered up the loofah and started on Sarah's back, her back wasn't too bad as Lou's had launched a frontal attack and the evidence was mainly on Sarah's face, neck and chest.

Chuck thought for a moment that the heat from the shower would cook all the ingredients in Sarah's hair. The smell was nothing like herbal shampoo. The good thing was none of the pepper would get up his nose because of the water. Chuck would not allow himself to be distracted by the vision in front of him, he applied liberal amount of shampoo to Sarah's hair and worked it in. He was amused by the variety of colours the suds had become as he rinsed the food and gunk from her hair. Sarah enjoyed the fact that she had a nude man massaging her scalp as he washed her hair. She thought she should have arranged this earlier.

Once Chuck had finish rinsing Sarah's hair, Sarah decided to pull the white t-shirt off over her head. It was already transparent anyway and her white bra was clearly visible underneath the shirt. Once Chuck assisted in removing the shirt, Sarah dropped it down to the floor of the shower. Most of the stains were gone now. Sarah looked into Chuck's eyes, she noticed that there was some indecision in them.

"You can take my bra off now."

Chuck put his arms around her to unclasped her bra from behind but he was having trouble.

"It unclips at the front."

He gave a quick grin then moved his hands to her chest, he had no trouble this time, the bra sprung open and Chuck put both hands on her breasts. He gently squeezed her breasts and with his thumbs rubbed them against her hardening nipples. Sarah had waited a long time for this fantasy to come true. Chuck got a surprise when he looked at Sarah's breasts; she had a small tattoo of a talisman next to her left nipple. A small green four leaf clover would normally be well hidden by her bra.

"How did you get that?"

"Drinking with Carina!"

"I thought it was a piece of coriander and I was trying to rub it off."

"Well don't stop. It's very nice."

Reaching up Sarah wrapped a hand around the back of his neck and yanking him into a hot kiss. Chuck abandoned Sarah's breasts by dropping his hands and then grabbing both cheeks of Sarah's ass. Together they tried to remove the last of Sarah's clothes; her jeans had to be peeled off her as they were wet and tight. Her clothes were abandoned at the bottom of the shower as they kissed and groped each other with abandon. Months of pent up sexual tension were going to get released today.

What started in the shower, progressed to the vanity unit, then the table by the window and finally the bed. They certainly exerted themselves totally, one thing for sure was there was going to be a lot of tender muscles and strained tendons the following day.

* * *

They were lying on the bed in post coital bliss when Chuck's phone rang. Without thinking he accepted the call without looking at the caller ID. Sarah was snuggled up to him with her head listening to his heartbeat. She was shocked when Chuck identified the caller as Jill. Sarah had heard from various sources about the Chuck/Jill romance so she was curious to why she would call in the middle of the day. It was late afternoon in Boston where Jill now lived.

"Hi Chuck, its Jill"

Chuck's relaxed body instantly tensed up, Sarah could feel the immediate reaction because of the way she was snuggling him.

"Err Hi Jill." Chuck managed to get out, he was rapidly being swamped by a wave of emotions he was now feeling. Bliss because he had sex with Sarah, fulfilment because he had sex with Sarah, empowered because he had sex with Sarah, guilt because he had sex with Sarah, shame because he had sex with Sarah, dread because he had sex with Sarah.

"Chuck I have great news"

"Are you coming back to the West Coast?"

"I'm having a baby and I'm getting married."

"Umm Congratulations, who's the lucky man?"

"My boss, Guy LaFleur."

"Aren't you supposed to get married first before getting pregnant?"

"We've been engaged for a while, we'll just bring the wedding forward a little!"

Sarah listened to the conversation, she could tell that the message of the call had gotten to Chuck, although he held it together on the outside, deep down he was brooding on the inside. The call continued for a little while, in which Chuck basically told of what various mutual friends were up to in their lives before hanging up. He was lying back staring at the ceiling in deep thought. Whatever he was thinking about Sarah wanted to know, she already knew he was upset because he was still quite stiff and rigid.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She was greeted with the sound of silence, so she tried again.

"You should be happy for her."

Chuck stopped staring at the ceiling and turned his head so he could see her, she noticed his eyes were moist, not enough to cry but he was in an emotional state.

"Well I should be but I don't know, part of me was hoping for her to return and we could take up where we leave off. But she has moved on. Shit! I've moved on. It's not like I've been holding a candle for her or anything, I've dated other women. It's been four years, for Christs sake, I should have been expecting it, she and Guy have been an item for couple of years. There is a little bit inside me that misses her."

"Will you miss me when I leave?" she let that question hang for a moment, "Well I better give you a good reason!"

With that she crawled her way on top of him and then started kissing him on his sensitive spots on his neck and jaw. It took him only a moment before he returned the passion in kind.

* * *

After losing her job at the deli, Sarah joined Casey at the Mr Fixit store.

"You have him back under your thumb yet?" Casey asked Sarah as he was stitching a clients handbag.

"It's getting there. I've put a lot of work in cultivating a friendship with his sister. I know that Ellie wants me to be a bridesmaid."

She was not going to tell Casey all the gritty bits of the last 24 hours, she leant against the counter knowing how much her muscles were aching. Sarah was sore, but sore in a good way. Last night Chuck and her got in some amazing positions and stretched some of her leg muscles further than what she was used to. Every ache gave off a good memory.

"Which means?"

"It means that I've become invaluable to Chuck's social life. He can't blow me off without upsetting his sister. I could ruin her wedding plans and the blame would fall on Chuck. He knows the importance of keeping his sister happy. If she is happy then we all are happy."

She said with a smile.

"Now I just have to convince him the importance of eliminating any other possible risks to him and restrict the number of people in his life so that he'll be easier to handle."

* * *

Chuck dragged his feet into his office and slumped into his chair. After spending the previous day having hot sex with his blond handler he couldn't concentrate on anything else. He stared at the code on his screen, not really seeing it. His reverie was broken by his office phone.

"Hello, Chuck Bartowski speaking."

"Hey, Chuck. Come up to my office. We have a situation to attend to."

"I'm on my way, Ted."

He stood up and immediately felt the pain, he was tender, the last time he felt like this was a dirty weekend away with Jill. Jill, he paused for a moment, good luck to her he decided. He made his way up to Ted's office. Ted's secretary let him into the office, where Ted and Sydney were waiting. Tommy was unobtrusively leaning against the wall in the corner. Anticipation tickled in Chuck's stomach.

"What's going on?" Chuck asked.

"Well," Ted began. "We have a couple of concerns. Concerns that concern your rather tenuous position with the government."

"Listen, I'm trying to get them off my back, but they're really persistent."

"We know that you're trying to keep them at arm's length," Sydney said, "but that's starting to look suspicious. We're going to have to play ball with them."

"Play ball?"

"You can no longer be just an asset under their control," Sydney continued, "you're now going to have to act like a real spy. Walker and Casey are your marks. You have to let them believe that you are relenting to their conditions."

"That's might not be so difficult." Chuck said quietly and he didn't want to elaborate. "I don't think they'd buy me wanting increased protection and surveillance. Besides, I don't know if I want to do that."

"Not if you know how to play the game," Tommy said with a slight smirk. "And I do."

The meeting for Chuck was over shortly afterwards, while Ted, Sydney and Tommy were going to discuss other things that were not for Chucks' ears. Chuck left the trio in peace and returned to his office.

They waited until Chuck left before they continued with their conversation, if Chuck knew what they were talking about he'd run and not stop.

"Did you hear about the drama in the plaza yesterday?" Sydney started.

"You mean the cat fight between the two girls in the sandwich shop?" Tommy inquired. "Yeah I heard it, one of them was the C.I.A. bitch that's giving Chuck a hard time."

"Sorry I missed it." Ted chipped in.

"Well apparently Chuck took that CIA mole away in his car and never made it to work yesterday. Did you notice how gingerly he was walking this morning?"

Both of the men shook their heads.

"Women notice these things! Believe me, when a man walks like that he's been on the nest all night long. It appears that Chuck's honey trap has allowed him to feed from the honeypot. That's not the usual protocol for handlers and assets."

"Nesting, honeytraps? Am I missing something here?", a confused Ted asked

"He's been having sex with his handler!" Sydney said while rolling her eyes

"So he finally nailed her. Good for him." Ted smirked, then he noticed that Sydney wasn't amused.

"Well damn," Ted exclaimed, "It appears the C.I.A. are getting desperate. You don't think he going to let something slip?

"You don't think that having sex with that pretty CIA mole isn't going to have an effect on his proirities and or loyalties? What if he wants to appease her more that us? Can we afford to take that risk?" Sydney raised that question. There was a pause of silence before she continued. "How important is Bartowski to the company?"

"I know where you are leading, and I don't like it. He's a terrific programmer, without him we'd still be barely past square one in building a viable intersect. Chuck had been like a son to me."

"So how important?"

"Bartowski had done very valuable work for this company, especially the Intersect projects."

"That project is now six months behind schedule, progress has stalled and our only viable intersect was custom built. The CIA seems to have one that will function in anyone."

"Are you suggesting we replace him as our project manager?"

"That new guy, Manoosh? You know he managed to reverse engineer the damaged components of the destroyed Intersect glasses. He seems to be more than capable and better yet Manoosh has none of Chuck's morals and therefore is willing to do anything for his personal advancement in the company."

"I need a very good reason to get rid of Bartowski!"

"He is showing signs of fatigue, he may crack under pressure. He is a loose end. He's bound to talk someday!"

Ted paused to think for a moment.

"All right may it happen!"

 **Oh dear, Chuck now has his employer wanting to terminate his services. Will Chuck realise? Will Sarah save him or kill him herself? What other surprises are installed for Chuck? Keep reading all will eventually be revealed.**

 **Please review.**


	14. Chapter 14: Drastic action

**After taking my time over the new year to recharge my batteries here is the next instalment of my tale:**

 **Chapter 14: Drastic action**

After another successful mission, Sarah turned to Chuck. "Good job, Chuck. You did great. And you need to stay in the car." Sarah looked a little more serious with that comment. "You know the car is generally the safest place to be. Why don't you come by my hotel room tonight and I will reinforce the rules to you!"

To Casey it sounded like Sarah was going to rip a layer of skin off the asset again, boy would he like to be a fly on her hotel room wall.

Chuck knew by the look she gave him that it was a ruse to give Casey the wrong idea. He did his best to play along by giving a glum nod.

At the anointed time Chuck was surprised to find Bryce answering her door. Chuck had gone to the trouble of changing out of his suit that he normally wore to work for a more stylish sports jacket. Seeing Bryce certainly poured cold water on what he was hoping was going to happen, what rotten timing by his old frat buddy. Fortunately Sarah was able to save the day by coming up with a plausible reason to get rid of Bryce.

"Sorry Bryce, Chuck is taking me out to dinner with his family. His sister is getting married and we are discussing wedding plans so we don't need a third wheel."

"Oh" Bryce said dejected.

"And Bryce. I don't want you here when I get back. You got that clear."

Sarah's quick thinking in saying that Chuck had an organised dinner with his sister was enough to give Bryce the chills. Bryce had run in with Ellie a few years ago and she didn't hold back when she tore him a new arsehole.

And Sarah didn't wanted Bryce around by the time she got back. Knowing he wasn't welcome the trio all left the hotel room together, they parted ways in the car park, after Chuck opened the passenger door for Sarah to get in. The last Chuck saw of Bryce was in the rear view mirror as he drove away.

The couple found a quiet Vietnamese restaurant far enough away that the chances of Bryce accidentally walking in on them were remote. Of course there was no family meeting as it was a ruse just to get rid of Bryce. Chuck stared to wonder if he had the makings to be a spy, he managed to fool both Bryce and Casey within a couple of hours.

They had a pleasant meal before returning back to Sarah's hotel room for sex.

She had barely stepped inside the door when Chuck attacked. He went straight for the sensitive spot he had previously discovered on her neck. Sarah meekly surrendered to the moment. As he kissed her on the neck he ran his hands up all over her body playing particular attention to her breasts. While Chuck was busy working on her neck and breasts, Sarah's hands were actively undoing all the buttons to her dress.

She surprised him when she suddenly stepped forward breaking his hold on her and stopping the attack on her neck, in one move she rolled her shoulders and her dress dropped and pooled on the floor. Another step and Chuck could see what she had being thinking about all day by the fact she was standing there with black lace lingerie.

With another step she spun around and sat herself down on the edge of her bed, she beckoned Chuck to step over and then she made herself busy with Chuck's belt and zipper of his trousers. While she was doing that Chuck unbuttoned his shirt and flung it off and onto the floor. With minimum resistance, Chuck's trousers and boxers were down around his ankles. She grabbed Chuck by the tie and she fell back on the bed pulling Chuck over and on top of her. She released the tie and lay back as Chuck moved in and joined her.

* * *

After losing her job at the deli, Sarah joined Casey at the Mr Fixit store. That remained until Chuck made a comment about how could Casey take Sarah on when he had no customers. The CIA took out another lease and within a few weeks Sarah opened a Muffin shop next door to the Mr Fixit.

Sarah was cleaning up a table in front of the Muffin shop: Uncle Marty's Muffins. It was part of Sarah's new cover, as owner and manager of a take away food shop in the Roark Plaza food court. Sarah quickly discovered that she had a different cliental to Lou's Deli. There were a lot more women as customers, and her business was busier in the mid morning than lunch time. A muffin and a flat white coffee rather than a bagel and a juice.

An Asian looking man wearing a white shirt and tie wandered over to her and stared at her. He looked at her in her Uncle Marty uniform and then addressed her promptly.

"My boss brags that he is dating you"

"Is that so?" Sarah stood to her full height and looked down on the man. "And who is your boss"

"Chuck, Chuck Bartowski" Harry said with a bit of venom.

"Chuck and I have been dating for a while now" She replied with a lofty air to it.

"Why you waste time with a loser, you should be dating a real man!"

Wow, this little man was brash alright, but why would he make such a comment to his boss's girlfriend? She decided to see if she could get him to open up and say more.

"You don't approve of your boss's love life or you don't approve of your boss?

"He may be a good programmer, he no good at project management."

"I'm sorry; I don't know your name?"

"Tang, Harry Tang." He said with an air of authority.

"Well, Harry, It's very nice to meet you." Sarah said with a flirty smile and tighten her arms against her chest to push her breasts up and out. She noticed that Harry had noticed what she had done.

Sarah could now see an opening, here was a chance to find out exactly what Chuck does at work, Chuck was always vague at what he was working on, and if she can manipulate this Harry Tang correctly then she will have a window into Roark Instruments. Harry Tang would need to be cultivated and he could possibly be a very valuable mark. Chuck never said anything about his work or his projects, maybe Harry would be more talkative. Sarah wondered if Harry had a thing for blondes. If so she could flirt with him and then perhaps he could be putty in her hands. She would have to be careful as to not allow Harry to brag, Chuck would hear about it and that would make her mission worst than uncomfortable.

"So, Harry what would you like to order?"

Harry placed his order, a Muffin and a soda, and then handed Sarah a large bill. Here's how to get customer loyalty she thought, she made a point of getting distracted by him as she counted his change, but giving over the amount in return as change Harry would think she was bit of a blonde klutz but he would be bound to return to see if she would make the same mistake again.

She waited until after Harry Tang had left before she called Casey on her phone. Sarah told Casey about Tang and wanted him to run a background check on Harry Tang and his family to see if there were any situations that could be exploited.

Casey's check was through, the spies found out that he had been married for many years and after getting Casey to tail Harry's wife she was surprised to learn that his wife was having an adulterous affair. If Mrs. Tang was getting a bit on the side there was the possibility that Harry wasn't getting any at home. Some simple flirting would see if Harry was trying to get it on with her.

* * *

The Muffin shop had been opened three days before Chuck showed his face again , he was there for the opening, but his business schedule, the excuse of having all these business meetings were beginning to run thin. For someone who was supposed to be dating the manager it would be noticeable that he wasn't having his lunch and breaks there, people might perceive this as his lack of enthusiasm for his girlfriends' new business venture.

Three days and even Sarah was not impressed. After allowing Chuck to sample her wares she asked him;

"Do you know Harry Tang?"

"Should I? It's a common name amongst Asians."

"Well he says that he works in your department."

"Oh that Harry Tang." Chuck started to worry. "What about him?"

"Harry came in today and, mentioned that he worked with you. It's nice to know that someone in your department can find the time to buy his lunch from me."

Chuck felt chastised by the comment, he must make more of an effort, for the cover of course.

* * *

Sydney was in Washington for a conference to promote the latest Roark Human Resource programs for a few days, but that was her cover, her real mission was to catch up with Dr Zarnow and get the latest on the new government intersect.

She had arranged to meet up with the doctor at one of the bars in the convention center. The hook up went without a miss, it helped that Sydney had a financial incentive for the doctor to be prompt and on time.

"Well, Sydney, the official estimate is four months, but, I would say that it is closer to six months before we can start beta testing, and even longer before we could try downloading it into actual agents," the doctor answered.

"So the timetable hasn't changed since the last time we spoke."

There was something very warm and inviting about the woman that had passed a large envelope full of money to the crooked doctor. She actually reminded him of a famous actress. While both Sydney and the doctor were no longer spring chickens, the doctor noticed that the Head of Roark Human Resources definitely took great care of herself, she also had a grace and style that made her more attractive than women half her age.

Sydney took out a business card and wrote something on the back. She handed it to the doctor.

"I'm here in town for a few days, but I'm not doing anything tonight. Why don't you come by my room and we can see where the night takes us."

Just after eight in the evening Sydney heard a knock at her hotel door. She was wearing a pink silk robe that was wrapped around her when she answered the door. Dr Zarnow looked her up and down; he could see she was wearing fishnet stockings under that robe. He was suitability impressed. He himself was in a freshly pressed charcoal colored suit. He entered the suite and he was carrying two presents with him that he handed over to Sydney. Sydney looked at the gifts; it was a box of candy and a bottle of expensive cognac.

"Dr Zarnow, I glad you could make it."

"Please call me Noah!"

"Ok Noah. Mmm candy might be dandy but liquor is quicker!" she smiled at him as she took the presents over to her bedside table.

Dr Zarnow quickly loosen his tie as he followed the femme fatale deeper into her room.

* * *

The screen turned off and Sarah gathered her things to go. Just as she was about to leave Casey's apartment, he stopped her with a question.

"Are you compromised?"

Casey turned around and looked at her, face neutral. Sarah paused for a moment to think about her answer.

"No. I am a true professional."

"Really? You seemed to be getting chummy with the asset again?"

"Of course, it's for the cover. If we can get you to think that all is chummy then we can have everyone in Chuck's circle of influence believe the cover. I mean, we've been really professional with each other. Ever since that food fight, he's been very cooperative."

"I've noticed that, too. Maybe he's finally learning how dangerous the situation is. At least that makes things easier for all of us. I don't know how much more of your girly feelings I could have stood. What about your cover? Are you doing your job keeping scrutiny off of him in his personal life?"

"Well, there's so much cover work to do because of his sister's approaching wedding. He and his sister are fussing over her wedding with such finesse it's starting to drive me nuts. And he is getting better at PDA's. Sometimes he'll come over to the Muffin shop and attempt to surprise me. And when he sees his friends or family, he insists that I have to make the girlfriend appearance mainly because of his sister, she is my best bud now. Besides, he's always calling me on his cell phone letting me know where he was going. You know, he's cut down his other commitments and seems to be dividing his time between me, his sister and work."

"I don't mind that. At least at Roark, he's safe. They have intense security that passes our muster."

She was happy to admit it, but things were definitely different between her and Chuck. Yes, he was a much more manageable asset now and did everything asked, and she enjoyed immensely the fun they had and then there was the sex. She often found herself having exotic thoughts while daydreaming about him during the lull in muffin trading.

He was a great help when her laptop got a virus and crashed her hard drive. Sarah had been surfing a file serving site when she contaminated her laptop. Chuck had the problem solved in a matter of minutes. She wondered if Chuck knew that she had been surfing adult content sites and if he had experienced the virus before? Chuck even showed and taught her some of his hacking skills.

Sarah found herself getting caught up with Ellie's wedding enthusiasm, Ellie had a way of making the normal civilian life worth a considering, she often daydreamed of sharing with Chuck a normal life. It didn't go as far as having a mortgage, dogs and kids but there was so much more she would like to do with that man if she was just a normal person.

Casey was starting to notice there were moments when Sarah was smiling absently while cleaning her tables and counters.

* * *

Chuck was jolted out of his reverie when a message from Ted told him to come up to his office. With a good dose of curiosity, he boarded the series of elevators that lead him to Ted's door.

Ted's secretary gestured him inside, and he saw his boss looking at some papers. He looked up and gestured Chuck to a seat in front of him.

"Take a look at these, Chuck," Ted said.

He took the papers from Roark and rifled through them for a few moments. He then looked up in surprise. "What are these?"

"The new government Intersect plans."

"What? How did you get these?"

"Sydney has her ways. These are a close approximation, but we will be getting more information on it sooner. Estimated completion time is six months. Do you know what that means?"

Ted was looking at Chuck with a significant gaze. Not knowing what to make of it, he gave a weak shrug.

"No. What does it mean?"

"It means in the government's eyes, you will become redundant. A liability. There is no way, once they have their new Intersect up, will they have the old version running around. Do you know where I'm getting at?"

Chuck felt the bottom fall out of his stomach. "They're going to kill me?"

"Bingo."

There was an uncomfortable silence in the room. Chuck tried to process the information rationally, but couldn't keep the wave of dread and panic from rising.

"What do we do?" Chuck asked Ted in a quiet voice.

Ted walked over to his liquor cabinet and took out some whiskey. He poured for him and Chuck and took the glasses back to his desk. Chuck grabbed his tumbler and tossed it back. He set it back on the desk and looked up expectantly at Ted. Ted looked back at his in shock, no one had ever slammed a drink down faster than Ted, he walked back to the liquor cabinet and brought the whiskey bottle with him, he pour Chuck another shot and then slammed that one down before finishing second to Chuck again.

"We are going to steal an integral component of the Intersect, called the Cipher. We are then going to switch it with our own component. And I need you to make it."

"What do you want our Cipher to do?" He was reassured a bit but still had that sinking feeling.

Ted leaned over his desk and poured another two glasses, and looked Chuck directly in the eye. "I need you to destroy the Government's Intersect." With that comment he slammed down his drink. Chuck bulged his eyes and did the same.

 **Please review.**

 **The stress of Chuck's double life is starting to take its toll. He is turning to alcohol to keep everything together.**


	15. Chapter 15: Taking Control

**Chapter 15: Taking Control**

"To destroy their intersect he wants me to blow it up!" Chuck echoed faintly. He was sitting on the couch in Sydney's office fretting about the task Ted had given him. "What if someone dies when it blows up? I'm not a killer."

"Chuck, you can't make an omelette without break some eggs. You're been a part of it from the beginning, this way you will have skin in the game."

Chuck had gone straight from Ted's office to Sydney's. Chuck had helped Ted finish off his bottle of Chivas Regale.

Sydney pulled a glass out of her cabinet and filled it with non-alcoholic apple cider. She could smell the whiskey on Chuck's breath when she got close and she handed the drink to Chuck, hoping he had the presence of mind not to drop it on her new couch. Chuck hand was shaking, the stresses were building and Chuck was starting to show physical symptoms.

"I already have skin in the game, I was there when they made Milbarge redundant."

Chuck basically slammed the cider down in one go, he was doing it a lot now, almost as a reflex, the stress of his double life was taking its toll. Chuck's hands also had the occasional shakes, she noticed a few drops landed on the couch. Although it was not a big deal, given she had plenty of experience cleaning various stains on upholstery.

"Chuck, just take a moment and breathe. What were the exact parameters Ted gave you for this mission?"

"He mostly just said to destroy the Government Intersect but I think what he means to say is to blow up the intersect. We talked about how it should be smashed to pieces, but I barely remember it. I don't want to actually hurt anyone."

Chuck slumped down and buried his face in his hands. He massaged his temples as he tried to process the horror that Ted wanted him to do. Sydney knew Chuck wasn't a big drinker and Ted had got him half pickled. Sydney watched him, and saw an opportunity.

"Chuck," she said as she sat next to him. "Look me in the eyes."

He did so. Worry etched his face, but he gathered himself up enough to pay attention.

"You are a very smart and creative young man," she continued. "So yes, you have to destroy the Intersect. However, you have the latitude to do it the way you want. This is the moment where you have to step up and find out how to execute your orders without violating your own beliefs. This is also a potential moment when Fulcrum's victory over the dark forces of the government gains momentum. You can go above and beyond the call of duty. Your destiny is now. Are you getting me?"

Chuck focused on her face. She was intense and powerful, but gentle and warm. He turned her words over in his head and some solutions began to germinate. His formerly despondent look started to fade into thoughtfulness and determination.

"Yeah, I think I am," he replied with a fierce grin.

She lent in and gave him a hug, she held him until she could feel a calm becoming him. Chuck could smell the scent of her perfume and it had a surprisingly calming effect on him. Chuck didn't flash, he had a flashback, he suddenly recalled moments of his childhood because Sydney had the same perfume his mother used to wear. Chuck had lost his mother when he was very young, he could barely remember anything about her. His mother's disused bottle of perfume remained on her bedside table for many years after she was gone. Chuck's dad used to spray some on his pillow on the nights he couldn't settle, young Chuck would clutch on and bury his nose into the smell until he drifted off to sleep. It was the scent that calmed him.

When Sydney let him go the anxiety started to rise again.

Chuck felt that this mission was he own personal 'Kobayashi Maru'. There would be no turning back now, he was one of key players in this high stakes war. Did Ted set him up to his own no-win scenario? What about Ted, who he had trusted without questioning. He never thought to question Ted's judgement, Ted had been right for so many things for years. He had always believed in Ted, he owed him big time after the Stanford fiasco. Without Ted and his company Chuck would never had bought his apartment block without Ted providing the finance. He had more money in the bank now than he knew what to do with. Even his sister Ellie would still have her student loans.

Being with a big company meant that Chuck had access and got to play with the most advanced hardware and software in the world. Roark was a leading edge company and it always had the newest, biggest and brightest. It could be said that Ted Roark spoilt his employees.

He had been on six business trips to Japan and another four to Shanghai in China, he lost count of the number of European trips Ted sent him on. Two years ago Ted paid for Chuck's entire team to a weekend in Paris as a reward for finishing their project.

* * *

Rodney Barnes took another look at the relay and compared it with his blueprints. He nodded in satisfaction and dreamed of having a drink or five after work to celebrate. He gave Chuck a thumbs-up.

With the approval from Rodney, Chuck looked down at the Cipher they were making and started it up. His grin widened into glee and satisfaction as he saw the program do its magic. The program would steal all the data of the Government intersect and then send it to a secure location before finally deleting all files off the Government's system.

Rodney meandered over and looked over Chuck's shoulder, sharing in the accomplishment.

"I think that about does it," Chuck said. "Is there anything else we need to do before we get the mission started?"

Rodney looked thoughtful and tapped his chin. A snap of his fingers meant an idea had just blossomed.

"Yeah, I think we should add a message. Something like _Fulcrum Thanks You_ might scare them into panicking and allow more time for the data retrieving to do its thing."

Chuck looked at Rodney and then back at the computer. He shrugged. "Sure. I guess you have a point there." Chuck added the changes. "Now that the Cipher is complete, the next part is the easy part. We just have to steal the real Cipher and replace it with this one. The real Cipher is going to be in transit, and one of our operatives is going to intercept it."

"How are you doing the switch? Sounds kind of confusing."

"Well, my handlers will probably be charged with getting it back, so I would likely be along with them. At some point they're bound to recover the real cipher and then I'll make a switch by slight of hand. I'm sure those details will be ironed out later. Should be reasonably straight forward."

With that comment Chuck put the cipher down on his desk and with Rodney went out for a muffin break.

While they was gone Ted Roark had wandered in to Chuck's work area and spied the device. Ted turned to Manoosh:

"Is this what I think it is?"

"Yeah it is the Cipher, Chuck and Rodney had just finished it."

"So where are they now?"

"They both stepped out for a break."

Ted look around the office to make sure no one was listening; he leant forward to Manoosh and in a soft voice said.

"Could you quickly add a few enhancements to this thing, I don't want to alarm the others."

"Sure thing!"

* * *

Meanwhile Sarah had cultivated her own mole in Chuck's office, Harry Tang would enter the shop only after Chuck had left and returned to work. He would have a USB stick concealed in the money he handed over. Sarah would give him change, much more than the amounts Tang had handed over.

It didn't take long before Tang became tired of the extra money, he wanted something more in return. Something more personal.

"What you are asking me to do is very risky. I'll need something big in return."

"Okay, what would that be?"

"I'd like to have your panties!"

Sarah's mouth dropped open with shock at the vulgar request. The disgust was half feigned but then she was a good actress, if she was going to get at the inside intelligence from Chuck's office then she would have to play along for some of Tang's carnal desires.

"Did I hear right? You want my panties?"

"It's the price you pay for something so risky for me!"

"Let me get this right, for every bit of intel you give me you want a pair of my panties?"

"They better be still warm!" Harry leered at her.

Sarah didn't see this one coming, but then a girl gotta do what a girl gotta do. When you cultivate a mark you have to keep him relatively happy for a while. She didn't have enough to blackmail him to force him to keep the intel in coming so she had to play along.

"Alright follow me." Tang followed behind Sarah as she walked deeper into her shop. Once she past the counter she turned around and looked at him straight in the eyes. Tang's eyes widen as he saw her run her hands up under her pleated skirt and then lowered them down again to mid thigh. Tang look turned to lust once he realised that she had lowered her panties.

"You can pull them the rest of the way, but no peeking."

Tang moved forward and kneeled in front of her. He used his hands to grab the panties and then he slowly pulled them all the way down to her ankles. One by one Sarah stepped out of her panties then she grabbed Harry by the ear and pulled him back up.

"Consider this as a down payment." She said with a firm voice.

Tang brought his hands together, scrunched the white panties and gave them a sniff. He then stuffed the panties into his front pocket of his trousers then he quickly left the shop. Sarah watched him leave, and she moved out to the front door, she stood for a moment then felt a cool breeze that wasn't there before. She then hurried back inside to her stash of spare clothes she kept in the back for a replacement pair of panties. She found her duffle bag and after opening it and searching around inside she found a black pair in which she immediately pulled on.

"I'd never have thought that Harry Tang was a muffin eater." Chuck said as he entered the Uncle Marty's Muffin shop.

Sarah was fortunate that Chuck and his coworker weren't five minutes earlier. Chuck must have seen Tang eating his muffin in the lift lobby. The fact that Harry Tang had a pair of Sarah's panties in his pocket would have been difficult to explain now that she and Chuck were getting intimate on a regular basis.

Tang's fetish had other consequences; Sarah now had to stock up in extra underwear. Tang kept up the supply of Intel and Sarah kept running short of panties. After a comment by Chuck as the team was getting ready before a mission that required formal attire and Chuck made an unflattering comment about a visible panty line with the red dress she was wearing, and Sarah knew of Harry Tang fetish for soiled women's panties she had the piece de resistance. She surprised him one day by giving him a red thong. She had been to a consulate dinner and her sheer dress required minimal visible panty lines. The way that Tang's beady eyes turned to saucers when she gave them to him, Sarah thought he might have a cardiac arrest or make a mess of his trousers then and there in the shop.

As a regular runner she had a pair of red lacy see thru panties that she would wear and not wash after her training runs. These panties were revolting but if Harry had the ultimate intel then she would give them to him.

* * *

"IS THIS REALLY NECESSARY?" Chuck shouted up at Colt, who was dangling him over the side of a building.

"Of course," he replied with an easy grin. "We have to make it look real to fool those handlers of yours."

"Can't we make it look real and menacing without dangling me over the side of a building? We are just supposed to exchange Ciphers. Dangling me over a building is taking away important Cipher exchange time."

"Don't worry about it," Colt said, who had the conversation with Ted Roark. "I've got you."

"No. Bring me back up so we can make the exchange and be on our way before my handlers get here."

"Heh, you're no fun," Colt said as he kept Chuck dangling upside down over the edge of the building. That was interrupted by the door getting blasted open and Casey and Sarah charging in.

"Drop the nerd," Casey growled, training his gun on Colt.

"No! Don't drop the nerd!" Chuck shouted.

 _Too bad for him_ , Colt thought as he let go of Chuck so he'd fall to his death.

Chuck screamed and instinct made him grabbed out for the fire escape. He managed to grab onto the railing and momentum made him swing onto the landing. It broke his fall but he hit so hard that his body was racked with pain.

He looked up as Sarah looked down with a look of terror.

"Chuck, are you alright?" she shouted down at him.

"Bruised. Everything is strained. Oh the pain." Chuck lay still on the fire escape grate as he tried to rationalise what went down. He looked back up at Sarah and saw relief on her face.

"Do you have the Cipher?" she asked.

"Yes," Chuck said.

It took four men to recover Chuck from the fire escape. He was angry at Colt for screwing up the mission. Chuck had heard that Colt had been captured and there was a waiting truck to take him to some secret prison. Sarah had taken the Chuck manufactured Fulcrum cipher from Chuck's possession so that part of the plan was going swimmingly, except for the part where Colt dropped him. He didn't care that Colt was captured. He just hoped that Colt would keep his mouth shut. Now he just needed to make sure that neither Sarah nor Casey would kill him before his Cipher did its job. He wasn't sure who would do it, but he had a feeling that Casey would be the one.

He felt so useless as he was loaded into the ambulance, strapped tight on a gurney. Sarah sat with him in the back of the vehicle and squeezed his hand. "Chuck, your bravery knows no bounds. You are a hero! Do you know that?"

"I don't feel like a hero. All I feel is pain!"

A medic gave Chuck some powerful painkillers and he dozed until he woken later in hospital with bandages and plaster all over him. Chuck's fall had caused severe dislocations to his right shoulder and hip, his right collarbone was broken and grazing on both his knees and ankles.

He was laid up in a hospital bed so he had nothing to do but think. What was starting to disturb him was the fact that he nearly died by one of his own..

There was no way that Colt could be so careless unless there was another agenda in play. Throw in Malena, it was now twice he faced death in dangerous game he was in, no wonder his nerves were shot.

Only one of his co-workers came to visit him, the repulsive Harry Tang. Tang in his usual rude manner managed to let slip that Manoosh Depak was seen with a measuring tape in Chuck's office. All but one of the projects Chuck was working on were nearing completion and he wasn't scheduled to start any new ones. His intersect project had stalled because Roark had him doing other priorities. He had seen it during his time here, project leaders get moved on at the end of a project. Chuck didn't think he was going to get moved on, he had too much valuable stuff in his head. Even Ted was treating him different, it may have been only subtle but it was there.

Manoosh was the golden child because he managed to get those damn glasses working. Anyone who wore those glasses knew kung fu. It became an office sport to download the skill then fight an opponent at lunch time. A lot of middle aged men who should have known better had used the glasses and then realise their bodies were not flexible enough for the kung fu moves they downloaded. Clyde Decker had warned him he had to be indispensible but now he was wondering if Depak had reduced the value of his worth.

He knew his name was on the wall behind his bed, an assassin could easily find him; the problem for Chuck was he didn't know which side would kill him first.

Sarah would spend many hours keeping him company, once the shop's business hours were over she would visit him and kept him company. It was good for Chuck as he needed her with him to possibly fend off possible assassins, whether it be Casey or one of his own. He dreaded the thought of a visit from Tommy. Buried deep in himself, he was almost positive that she would do nothing to intentionally hurt him. She wasn't his assassin, she was his protector. Even though he tried to fight that sentiment with the logic of what she was and whose side he was on, he couldn't completely suppress the guilt that said he was betraying her. But he could not dwell on that too long; the plan had to go on.

The Cipher booted up and started to smoothly download. Graham smiled in satisfaction as he put his glasses on while the agents behind him took theirs off. The smile promptly left his face when the message _FULCRUM THANKS YOU_ flashed across the screen. A countdown of sixty seconds started while Graham turned to the monitor in the wall.

"What is happening?" he called to the technicians on the other side of the camera. He ran out of the Intersect room and to the control center.

"Sir, it seems that the Cipher contained a Trojan virus," the technician said. "All of our files are getting downloaded and sent somewhere. At the same time, it has taken control of one of our guided missiles based here in Washington. The missile is headed our way. We have to get out of here…now!" The technician was in a full panic as his fingers flew over the keyboard.

"What about our data? What are they getting?"

"Everything! But we have to evacuate," the technician said as he scrambled for the door. Graham grabbed him and pulled him back.

"No! You have to keep Fulcrum from getting everything."

"It's too late," the technician yelled in alarm. "There's only seconds left before the missile will hit the building. There's no time to even think about stopping the download. Besides, everyone is already evacuating."

With that, he wrenched out of Graham's grip and ran out. Graham looked around and noticed that the lights and PA were broadcasting evacuation procedures. With a mild curse, he realised he couldn't make it out so he stopped and waited to meet his maker. He could see the weapon of his demise flying straight at him, he wasn't a religious man but he started reciting "The Lord's prayer."

Then the missile hit and the whole complex blew up.

 **Please review.**


	16. Chapter 16: The smoking gun

**Chapter 16 The smoking gun**

Chuck rolled his shoulders as he scrutinized the code in front of him. He was still sore from his stay in hospital. He was still taking his prescribed painkillers. Loyalty to the cause meant that he wanted to return to his work because he was bored at home and wanted to finish the project he was managing. His sister was against the idea as she wanted him to rest, but Chuck was stubborn, word soon got out that Chuck was in the building.

There was a buzz in the office that day; the executives were informed of their bonuses for the coming year. Chuck wanted to know how big a bonus he was getting so he checked the company email and was delightfully surprised. Chuck received a 30 percent increase on the bonus he got from last year.

He didn't have much time to settle in his office before her receive a visit from two important members. While he was greeted warmly by Ted and Sydney, they decided to escort him to the big function the company was throwing its executives downtown.

While Chuck's injuries had kept him home so he hadn't been visiting Sarah in the Muffin store, however Harry Tang was a regular customer. Tang would drop in half an hour before the lunch time rush.

"Harry could you do me a favour? Could you get me a copy of your company's corporate directory. If I had a directory I could offer my personal customer focus service."

"If I do you a favour, then you will have to do a favour for me."

"Of course, that's sound fair." She said as she smiled sweetly at him.

Harry came back later in the day with a printed directory. He gave it to Sarah and she in return gave him a plastic bag with a pair of cotton panties. She noticed that Harry was in no hurry to return to work, he seemed content to hang around her shop and watch as she cleaned up after the day's trading. After five minutes in which Harry showed no signs of leaving Sarah had to say something.

"Harry, shouldn't you be getting back to work?"

"No need, boss man not here."

"Boss man, you mean Chuck?"

"Chuck no longer in today."

"What?" Sarah said in surprise. "Chuck came into work today?"

"Chuck came in to check to see the size of his bonus, but now he left."

"Do you know where he went?"

"Chuck gone off hobnobbing with bosses' downtown. Big party, big drinking. He not come back."

"We're supposed to be going out after work."

"Bad luck Blondie, Chuck stand you up!"

"So Harry, how big was your bonus?"

"Fuck, I forgot to check." With that comment Harry Tang hurried out of the office and back to work. With Harry gone she got out her tracker and it showed that Chuck was still at his work, or was he? Perhaps he had taken his GPS tracking watch off and left it at his desk. Having Chuck moving around without a tracker on him was not desirable. She would have a chat to Casey about the other bug he planted.

* * *

Sarah was talking to Bryce Larkin when she spied Harry Tang coming in her direction.

"Quick Bryce, hide behind the counter, my office mole is coming."

Bryce turned quickly and saw Tang making his way across the forecourt towards them, he quickly got behind the counter and stayed low on the floor.

Harry marched into the Muffin shop in a very foul mood, it was bonus time at Roark Instruments and Harry missed out. It seemed that only level 4 and above got the bonuses this year. Chuck was a level 3, whereas Harry was a level 5.

"The bosses get the bonus paid for by exploiting the sweat and skill of the ordinary worker. Because they didn't let me join their secret society I got nothing!"

To Sarah that was music to her ears, she had been recording from the moment Tang stepped thought the door.

"Did I hear you right, Harry?" she fluttered her eyelashes at him.

"Fuck Fulcrum!" Harry cursed. "Fuck all these fat arsed corporate pigs!"

Time to play the dumb dizzy blonde: "What's Fulcrum? Sarah asked innocently.

"What? Blondie you don't know?"

"No." Sarah replied with her best wide eye and innocent look.

"Fulcrum is something that Ted Roark started with his rich mates to avoid paying tax to the US government. All the Roark employees level 4 and above are members. They invited you in, you can't join without an invitation."

"Is Chuck a member?"

"Of course he is, he's level 3, and he's been a member for years!"

Sarah did her best to stop the colour flow from her face. Just as well she had a full foundation on her face. Tang had dropped a bombshell and didn't know it. She had to get this intel to Casey so he could tell Beckman.

"Harry" Sarah pulled out a clear plastic bag with the soiled red lacy panties inside, "Would you like these" as she dangled them in front of Harry.

Harry went to snatch them but Sarah was quicker, she pulled the bag away from him and smiled.

"If you want these you are going to give as much information on Fulcrum as you can."

"Yeah, yeah no problem!" Harry was practically drooling at the bag. "I'll be back."

And with that he left the shop in a hurry. Bryce emerged from his hiding spot and stared at Sarah.

"Son of a Bitch has played us!" Bryce flabbergasted.

Sarah was instantly upset, but she didn't let her professional facade drop, she didn't want Bryce to see her tear up and maybe cry. Sarah gave Bryce a copy of the recording to give to Casey. Casey shut up shop straight away and left immediately with Bryce. Sarah's had to wait for Tangs return.

Around afternoon tea time Harry was back with a briefcase full of stuff. "It was easy," he said, "All the bosses are at the company function downtown having drinks toasting their bonuses."

Sarah handed Harry the panty bag, in which he greedily opened the top and took a whiff.

"Woman you must be fermenting" he said with glee before resealing the bag and then he left to go home, or so Sarah thought as he didn't head off in the direction return to work.

There was more important things to do than to serve customers at the Muffin shop today but they kept coming through the door. She couldn't close up and head off to Casey's apartment. She knew Chuck was hob-knobbing with the upper echelon of Roark Instruments. What she now knew was the Roark and Fulcrum where interlaced together and Chuck was a part of it. She desperately wanted to get to Casey's so they could formulate a plan to get the bad bunch of traitors. She had little empathy for any of them so she was really pissed at the idea the Chuck was involved up to his neck in it.

* * *

As Chuck walked into the Bamboo Dragon restaurant he could see many of the familiar Friday night crowd already sitting and drinking along a long table. They all knew what Chuck had created and they all knew what had happened to the Director of the C.I.A. they all raised their glasses to toast him and then return to their conversations.

It didn't take long for Tommy to come up to Chuck and gave him a pat on the back. Chuck winced in pain for Tommy had squeezed his crook shoulder.

"Sorry, Bud, I thought you were better."

"I've been trying to ween myself off the painkillers." Chuck said as he stood up straight again.

"It's good to see you again, Your handlers have made contact with you near impossible."

Tommy decided to change the subject.

"Now that you are cashed up with the big fat performance bonus, how about I attempt to lighten your wallet with a game of poker tonight?"

The thought stuck fear into Chuck, he didn't want to be without his CIA sponsored detail when dealing with any of Ted's henchmen. Chuck was looking for an excuse not to go but he couldn't think of one, Tommy was very insistence in Chuck being in attendance tonight. Chuck relented and finally agreed however he said he had a few errands to run so he might be a little late.

He was sitting quietly at the table slowly organising his thoughts when he got a text on his phone from Sarah, the message gave him instant relief, seems like he had a mission that night and he was going to have to cancel his poker night at Tommy's after all. He left the function and caught a cab back to his office and then made his way to the muffin shop. Chuck waited patiently in line until the other customers had finished their purchases and left. Alone with the best in the business, she smiled at him warmly and gave him a kiss. Chuck didn't have a clue that his cover was blown.

"So do we have a mission tonight?"

"Yes, it's at the Costa Gravas Embassy. It should be a quick in and out"

Costa Gravas was a country that was a relic of the cold war. It's revolutionary leader Premier Alejandro Goya, the dictator of Costa Gravas, had seized power in an armed coup back in the sixties. Goya was propped up by the Soviets and the Cubans for most of his rule. The collapse of the Soviet empire and the offer by the US to lift economic sanctions in return for Goya moving the country closer to democracy had helped the US and Costa Gravas relations to thaw after nearly forty years. There was still a lot of espionage happening and the Costa Gravas embassy was the conduit of information swapping. It was the spy hot spot in town.

The clueless Chuck left the Muffin shop to go home to his apartment to change, on the way Chuck sent Tommy a text **'Duty calls may B L8'**

To get ready for this mission he needed to wear a tux, embassy dinners where a formal affair and Chuck had to dress appropriately, that meant polished black shoes and not his Chuck Taylor runners. After a hot shower and a splash of cologne that he knew Sarah liked, he dressed in his tux and walked out his apartment door. He got to spy base and was disappointed when the mission was cancelled because something more important came up. He loved seeing Sarah when she dolled herself up but she was wearing her black ops outfit and had her mission face on. She wasn't the beautiful girl that he knew, she was the highly effective agent that would shoot first and ask questions later.

They had a location of a Fulcrum operative and their intel was suggesting that a meeting was going to occur tonight. Bryce and Casey had organized a raid on Tommy Delgado and they had agents in place waiting for orders to arrest him. Chuck wanted to warn Tommy but he had left his phone at home because he didn't enjoy the numerous calls Morgan would make to him while on a stakeout. Morgan had got hooked on a new version of "Call of Duty" and was always wanting to discuss tactics and strategy.

Chuck wasn't allowed to change as Casey decided that Chuck would be less likely to touch anything or else he get his tux dirty. Chuck had the unfortunate habit of contaminating crime scenes due to his clumsiness. Chuck would never admit that he occasionally did this on propose to steer suspicion away from him and Roark Instruments.

* * *

The NSA has secured an apartment that had direct visual of what was inside Tommy's apartment. As he climbed the stairs he followed his handlers into a private apartment that had no lights on. There was a small amount of light that allowed you to move around without bumping into things. Chuck entered a room with blinds drawn, in the room there was a camera and a screen set up.

"So what have we got here?" he asked, "It's just a blank screen."

"Watch" Casey said, "Some NSA magic" and he hit a button on the camera and the screen revealed the heat signatures of three occupants across the road. Chuck couldn't tell who they were but there was something that caught everybody's eyes.

"They're armed". Sarah warned.

"How can you tell?" Chuck enquired.

"Watch as they move around, their side arms are considerably cooler than the rest of their bodies."

Chuck paid greater attention and sure enough he could spot the revealing heat traces. One of the targets had his gun holstered while the other two had their firearms stowed in the small of their backs.

"I just spoke to Beckman, and she wants no chances!" Casey pulled out his sniper rifle. Chuck watch as Sarah and Bryce prepared their rifles for the hit. Chuck was hoping it wasn't Tommy's place that was the target but he knew it was. He knew Tommy was going to die, and he couldn't warn him, he was in the eagles nest without a phone; he just had to accept was fate Tommy was going to have.

"On the count of three!" the major ordered, "One, two, three."

The three agents fired simultaneously, and Chuck could see on the screen the three targets all fall to the floor. He thought one target was still moving in agony until Casey fired another shot and the target stopped.

"How did you do that?" Chuck asked but he didn't really want to know.

"Thermal imaging scopes!" came Casey's reply. He sounded really pleased with himself.

They stood and watch the screen and noticed that the bodies were losing their body heat. Once the heart stops beating then the blood stops circulating and the body would eventually cool. Since they were sure the marks were dead Bryce's squad moved in and picked the lock to the apartment door. After a couple of agents declared the apartment clear Chuck and his handlers entered a now familiar home. It was Tommy's place.

Chuck didn't want to walk into Tommy's apartment, he knew it reasonable well from all the poker nights, but Casey insisted that Chuck might flash on something useful. Chuck had been there many times to play poker, now he was here for most sinister reasons. He was eventually herded into the lounge room were the three dead bodies lay. Chuck was forced to look at the slained to see if he could flash on anything. There was Tommy lying on the floor with a bullet hole in his head. There was a big pool of blood and what looked like brain matter oozing out of the head wound.

As Chuck looked around the room, he could see the card table set up neatly awaiting the players. There were four seats at the table, one of them was for him. It looked like an ordinary card night, chips, nuts and beer all waiting for the players. Surely they were here just to play poker, and the CIA killed them all, without a chance to surrender or defend themselves. Chuck looked back at Tommy, he didn't deserve this, the government has a lot to answer for.

Chuck noticed one of the other victims, he recognised him from Emmett Millbarge's house. He was the CIA operative who warned him he better stay relevant and valuable. This agent's death would had deeper consequences as the internal review within the CIA would be extensive.

While Chuck was staring at the body of Clive Dekker an agent came up to the Major and addressed him.

"Major, I want you to look at this!" an agent said to Casey.

The agent led Casey into Tommy's garage and Chuck had to follow him. In the garage was Tommy's beloved car and something Chuck thought was unusual. There was a large sheet of plastic spread out across the vacant garage floor. Other things he saw was various tools from pliers and saws to duct tape.

"It looks like a killroom!" Casey muttered in disgust. "Looks like whoever was suppose to turn up for cards tonight was never going to go home. The poor sap was going to lose more than just his money."

Chuck had a sinking feeling in his stomach. He was fourth person for cards tonight but the mission delayed him. Was Tommy going to kill him? It certainly seemed that way. That could explain why the trio weren't playing cards when they were shot.

"Excuse me gentlemen, but I have to go outside and puke!" Chuck warned as he rushed out of the garage.

"Remember this is a crime scene!" was a grunt of a reply.

* * *

Chuck sat quietly on a small brick wall at the front of the apartment complex, he was away with his thoughts, he had the premonition he had just witness his own demise. He knew that the dangerous game that he had been playing would end one day, and probably because of some silly stupid mistake, something minute, that little piece of detail he would eventually overlook, something that when the CIA finally put the pieces together his goose would be well and truly cooked.

Much later it was Bryce who came over to check on him, he had taken two beers from the card table and was offering one to Chuck. He opened Chuck's beer before giving it to him.

"You look like you could use a beer!" Bryce said as he placed the beer in Chuck's hand. Chuck could barely look at him, he remained silent and gave a subdued nod.

"I've been after that bastard for a couple of years!" Bryce said before taking a swig on his beer. "Tonight is a good night!"

Chuck knew that Bryce was fishing for a response. Chuck just sat on the wall and nursed his beer, he didn't drink from it, his hands were shaking anyway. Bryce was hoping for anything to expand on but Chuck remained silent. This was something that Bryce didn't see too often, a sullen Chuck. Bryce had seen this sort of mood from Chuck a few times in college, times when the two of them went out and hoped of meeting some girls before Jill came into his life. Bryce would try to match-make Chuck with a girl that had caught his eye, because Chuck was too shy Bryce would with his confidence walked over to her and bring her back so Chuck could meet her. The next day she would call but would be only interested in getting together with Bryce. Bryce's bedroom had a revolving door effect and Chuck was jealous of Bryce's fortune.

"You're acting like you have just lost a friend!" Bryce spoke between mouthfuls of beer, he was clearly fishing for a response. "Did you know any of them?"

"No." Chuck lied.

"Are you sure because one of them had this?"

Bryce presented Chuck with a lanyard with an Id on it. It was of Tommy Delgado and he worked at Roark Instruments. Chuck could feel his body having a hot flush. He had to make eye contact or else he was giving the game away. The first believable thing he thought of came out of his mouth.

"Roark is a big company and it could be a fake."

Bryce looked again at the ID and then gave a nod.

"Yeah, you could be right."


	17. Chapter 17: Busted

**I know the updates have slowed to snail's pace but life has been getting in the road.**

Chapter 17 Busted

The next morning he was supposed to have a first up meeting with Ted Roark, his palms were sweaty when he arrived at Ted's executive suite ten minutes early before even Ted's executive assistant was there. He found Ted's office unlocked so he let himself in and sat down on one of the chairs. He had taken the precautions of wiring himself up with a recording device. Ted was usually very punctual with appointments but today he was late.

He heard Ted giving orders as he approached his office, Ted made a sexist comment to his E.A. then walked into his office. Chuck thought Ted looked surprised to see him. Ted for a moment was lost for words.

"Chuck what are you doing here?"

"You scheduled this meeting yourself yesterday. You said 'we need to talk first thing tomorrow'."

"Oh! Yeah? Of course, of course. What were we meeting about?"

"You wanted to go over potential Intersect enhancements."

Chuck noticed that the normally unflappable Ted Roark was rattled this morning, Ted couldn't concentrate on the technical discussion he was having with Chuck. To save face Ted cancelled the rest of the meeting because something had come up and Chuck had to leave.

"I'm sorry Chuck, but I had way too much to drink yesterday and I can't seem to be able to concentrate this morning. Let's postpone this meeting for Tuesday afternoon at 3."

Leaving Ted's office Chuck was unsure what to do next; he didn't want to return to his office because after the events of last night he felt he would be a sitting duck. He definitely needed to think about what to do next. There was only one spot where he could think clearly and it was away from the office. He took the lift to the car park and left via his company car. Santa Monica beach was the one spot that Chuck could think.

* * *

The super sexy spy was doing her regular check on Chuck's GPS tracker noticed that he was travelling away from the office so she stayed and monitored where he went. Casey came into the store and flashed the hand held device so Sarah knew why he was here.

"Do you think he's making a run for it?" Casey sneered.

"I don't know."

They both stood in silence and watched they own tracking devises as the blip on the screens continued to move. Chuck's vehicle continued to move in a westerly direction towards Santa Monica. Sarah could tell from Casey's restlessness that he was getting nervous about Chuck's motives.

"Well if he goes past Pacific Palisades I'll call it in!" Casey made a definitive statement. If Chuck crossed that imaginative line Casey designated then he would find himself being secured by some of NSA's finest.

"Look the tracker has stopped at the Santa Monica Beach." Sarah sighed with some relief, she didn't need this to get any more complicated than it already was.

"I'll going out there to see if I need to bring him back! I'll call you once I know what he is up to."

As she got into her car she remembered yesterday when she heard what Tang had told her. She sniffed silently as she realized how Chuck, the person she loved and thought loved her, had betrayed her and their country. She had thought that he had loved her but he had gone and betrayed the country and everything they had fought for. She didn't waste any time trying to think of reasons for what he did, it didn't matter why he did it, the simple fact was he had become a traitor and that's what mattered.

She got in her car and drove after the blip that was her asset / boyfriend / lover / enemy of the state / traitor. The traffic was light which meant she was free to think about the obvious. She couldn't help it. By some fluke she didn't have a problem when it came to finding a place to park.

She found him on the Santa Monica Beach with a half drunk bottle of Johnny Walker black beside him. He certainly looked the worst for wear as he was looking glum and oblivious to his surroundings. She sat down beside him and took the half empty bottle and moved it out of Chuck's reach. Chuck was not one who could hold his liquor but he was still reasonably coherent. He immediately closed his body language, he crossed his arms across his chest and kept his gaze down on the sand.

He looked at her then looked away, then back at her and then to his magical bottle that took his problems away. He was staring at his bottle that was just out of arms reach when Sarah was forthright with him.

"Chuck..Chuck..It's me. Sarah. We need to." She suddenly got a whiff of Chuck's breath. "Why are you drunk?"

He looked her straight in the eyes and made the remark. "Because I can't swim."

He started laughing at his own joke and flopped back onto the sand.

"Yes you can. I've seen you swim quite well." Sarah didn't understand what he was on about.

"Because of this bung shoulder, I'd end up going around in circles." He laughed outrageously; Sarah gave a half-hearted laugh at that one in response. Chuck was trying to cover his feelings with humour and lame jokes but Sarah knew him better than Chuck did himself. He wasn't hiding his feelings very well.

"Where do you want to swim to?" she pried?

"Hawaii."

"You couldn't swim that far even with a good shoulder."

"That's the idea."

It dawned of Sarah that Chuck knew the gig was up. Harry Tang was right about Chuck and Fulcrum and now here was Chuck drinking, trying to drown his guilt. The irrational part of her would like to put a bullet between his eyes but it wouldn't ease the hurt of his betrayal to her. The rational side she didn't think she could do it anyway, Chuck was the first man in a long, long time that she had genuine feelings for. Throw in the fact he was drunk, but at least he was still coherent enough to answer questions she was asking.

"How did you find me?"

"The tracker in your watch."

That comment got him to look at his watch and just nod in acceptance. His shoulders slumped again.

"Chuck, I need you to explain yourself. I need you to tell me some things!"

Sarah had a feeling that this was going to get awful. It was going to get tough but she had to promise herself she would try not to jump at conclusions before he answered her. She would gauge him to know if he was telling her the truth. This was too important.

"Chuck…" she started slowly. "Is there something you want to tell me? Is there something you want to get off your chest?"

Chuck shook his head and then made an attempt to reach across her to grab his bottle of alcohol. Sarah gasped his arm and then forced him back onto his backside. She was not going to allow him to drink his problems away. He sat there defeated and then dropped his head again.

His eyes watered and tears threatened but he finally spoke.

"Sarah, I never wanted to hurt you. You have to know that. I fell in love with an incredible woman and I didn't want it to happen but it just did. It was a mistake but what a mistake. One that I should regret every day since we first met but I can't. I just couldn't help falling in love with you."

"Chuck..I.."

"Sarah, let me finish or I'll never get this out."

Chuck took a big breath and he swallowed deeply to keep some form of composure.

For the last few days all I could think about is our future together. Thinking about what it would be if I never had the government Intersect in my head; we could have been together for real, no compromised work relationships, no covers, no lies. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that you and I can never have a future together. I fooled myself into thinking that Ted Roark would be able to solve everything. I've basically put all my faith in him. Because Ted Roark is so fucking brilliant! He is the ultimate persuader. He can get you to do things that are so against your moral fibre and you do them willingly."

She saw only a stoic face in response to his declaration. An awkward silence ensued as Sarah was forced to look away.

"I've been living a lie. Look, we both know how I feel about you so I'm just going to shoot straight. Sarah, you're the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. You're beautiful, you're smart, you laugh at all of my stupid jokes and have a horrible habit of constantly saving my life. The truth is, you're everything that I thought I ever wanted and more."

Deflated, Chuck finished "Anyhow, I guess what I'm trying to say is...I...I would...I would understand if you hated me…but I needed you to know".

Sarah seemed to snap to alacrity. "I don't! I don't. Chuck...not at all."

"That was all I ever wanted. I...I can't. I can't believe...this is not how it was supposed to be…not now...I...I…" He seemed to collapse into her lap and wept. Sarah instinctively wrapped her arms around him and held him close. With a gasp, Sarah pulled herself together. He wiped his eyes. She looked at his mop of curly hair before he turned and looked straight in her eyes, his eyes were once again an open book to her.

She waited as long as she could before hearing him speak.

"Sarah, I really don't know what to say. See, I'm just a guy who likes math, you know, and somehow I got a beautiful girl like that to fall in love with me. I have to pinch myself sometimes. It's like I'm dreaming. Aw, forget it. God...why does this have to be so hard. I love you. But I did something long before we first met. I tried to keep my two worlds from colliding. Just like gravity, two large objects start circling each other and slowly the gravity start drawing them in closer and closer and closer until…." He seem to tail off from finishing what he was going to say.

"What happened Chuck?"

His shoulders slumped and he lowered himself further into the sand. He was vulnerable. She stayed still. "You'll kill me yet." he muttered to himself. He waited half a breath to see what she would do.

That revelation surprised her. It shouldn't have, she had training. She had cleaned up operations before, Sarah's stomach churned realizing that she didn't even consider that when he made his declaration. It amazed her that Chuck knew that she could be his potential executioner. With her twelve years with the Agency, she thought she had seen and heard it all. She hadn't, obviously.

Then in barely a whisper he said it, "I'm Fulcrum!"

"Oh...Chuck, I... I..."

"It's okay Sarah; you didn't know, no-one does, it's a secret society. You couldn't know what decisions I would make. It's just how it is. There are always consequences to our actions Sarah."

He smiled a small sad smile. "I'm lost to you aren't I?"

It was hard for Sarah. She felt that constriction in her chest and dryness in her throat. His confession made her feel ill.

"What are you going to do now? Are you going to turn me in? Report me to the Deputy Director?"

"No, Chuck. This is just between you and me."

"Sarah… what happens next? What happens to me? To us?"

She barely saw him cringe but it was there. Sarah felt a sharp pain in her chest, but she ignored it. She was tired of regret and tired of this heartache. This was going to stop. They could have had something and she was going to do her best to make it happen.

"You made a mistake but it can be fixed."

"I don't know Sarah. I don't see a way back for me."

 _Or for us_ she thought.

"You have your career. You're respected and from what I've gleaned from the CIA servers, soon to be co-leading a task force anywhere in the world. I'm just a rogue programmer with nothing but pain in my future."

"Chuck…"

When she finally shook off the shock of his statement, she realized what was happening and she couldn't stand it. This sounded too much like a goodbye.

Sarah swallowed the lump in her throat.

"I know you don't believe me but I love you Chuck Bartowski. You, all of you, even right now you. Listen...you can't…believe this is the end. Don't say goodbye because I'm not going to, and I'm not allowing you to either."

Chuck smiled a soft crooked smile as he brushed a hand through his hair.

"You know Sarah, we could just take off."

"Why would we do that?"

"I feel the need to get away. You know. Get away from it all for a while. I got my bonus from Roark so I'm cashed up., You know, we could go somewhere without our phones so no-one could interrupt us relaxing somewhere on a beach, where the sun's warm glow and we be drinking long glass cocktails with little umbrellas where no one can find us. We could go and hide! Would you like that?"

"We could hide?" she quizzed him. "I have somewhere you could hide."

 **AN: Will she turn him in? Will she run with him?** **Oh the drama, oh the suspense!**


	18. Chapter 18: Room without a view

" _We could hide?" she quizzed him. "I have somewhere you could hide."_

Chapter: 18 Room without a view.

When Chuck woke up he was not where he expected to be, he was in a small grey cell with a large bulletproof glass window and only a door at one end. The light was on and his headache from the whiskey drinking on the beach the day before was killing him. He never had a headache like this before, mainly because he never consumed that amount of alcohol in his life. Oh what he would give for a glass of water and some paracetamol.

He heard the door unlock and Sarah stepped inside, he gave her a smile but it quickly disappeared when it wasn't returned, instead he noticed that Sarah vivid blue eyes were a lifeless shade of grey. Sarah looked into Chucks eyes and asks him if he is a member of Fulcrum. Chuck, not remembering what he confused on the beach denied it, Chuck knew he had to blatantly lie because he was scared of Sarah's response. Sarah knew then that Chuck was lying. She dropped her gaze for a moment then whack, she belted Chuck across the kisser and Chuck dropped like a bag of spuds. He hit the floor with a thud, he was out cold.

He stirred when he felt something cold and moist on his face. As he came to he could feel someone with a wet towel gently wiping his face and washing away the blood that he had dribbled out after he blacked out. Now that he was aware of who it was he felt a little better and a lot worst. Sarah had been gently cleaning him up. Sarah was the one who hit him with amazing force. Now that he was awake, he could feel his head pulsating as his hangover and the concussion competed with each other on who could make Chuck feel sicker.

"I'm sorry I hit so hard but you lied to me!"

Sarah got up and exited out the door without saying another word. She didn't look back and that made Chuck's stomach drop, he thought he might vomit as he watched her walk away.

When Casey found out that the geek he been protecting for the last year and a bit was a Fulcrum operative he was livid. Fortunately for Chuck, he was already in a secure cell with armed guards when Casey stormed in to throttle him. Chuck could see through the bulletproof glass that the veins in Casey's forehead were staining to burst. The guards stopped Casey from getting to him so Casey pointed at him and then gave the slit throat hand gesture and made sure Chuck knew what he wanted to do to him. Chuck knew Casey's history of torture and interrogation and he was gripped with fear. Chuck wasn't sure if the waiting was the worst part, his imagination was getting the better of him.

* * *

He had been sitting there quietly for twenty minutes waiting for his interrogation. Casey and Sarah entered the room and sat down on either side of him, and with a flick of a button from Casey's laptop the monitor came to live.

"It's good that you both are here" General Beckman addressed the two arrivals. "Take a seat and we will get this meeting started."

The three of them were all seated at the long rectangular table that was positioned in front of a monitor in which the General had a remote control in her hand.

General Beckman then turned in her chair so she was looking at Chuck.

"I'm arresting you, Charles Irving Bartowski, under the authorization of the USA Patriot Act for crimes against the United States Government."

"No. No. This is a mistake!"

"Chuck, charges I will lay against you include: Providing Material Support to Terrorists; Conspiracy to Provide Material Support to Terrorists; Contributing Goods and Services to a Specially Designated Global Terrorist".

* * *

Chuck was getting a crash course in learning about his new life of being locked within the confined walls of a prison cell. Two large guards grabbed him and force marched him to the interrogation room. Once inside he was handcuffed to the table were Team Chuck used to conduct their briefings. He could see that the monitor was on but nothing was displayed.

Chuck was waiting impatiently inside the room with his arms restrained with handcuffs that were looped through a permanent ring anchored to the table. All Chuck could hear was the noise of the handcuffs links rattling on the anchoring ring. Chuck's hands were permanently shaking. His jaw still hurt from where Sarah hit him some time ago. He has lost the sense of time. Chuck's anxiety levels were pretty high as he thought back to yesterday when he didn't have a care in the world. But yesterday is too far away now; he dreaded what was going to happen next. Chuck always had a fear of the unknown, and he was living in fear now. Casey and Sarah entered the room and sat down on either side of him, and with a flick of a button from Casey's laptop the monitor came to live.

The General appeared on screen and she greeted the agents but not the prisoner. The General then used the remote to project two faces on the screen.

"Does the Intersect recognize these two persons?"

Chuck did his best to avoid reacting to the flash he had from the F Intersect, the G Intersect didn't fire, he knew who both of the men were but he didn't want to let out just how well he knew.

"I have nothing!"

"I see" Beckman continued. "How about this man?"

Chuck flash this time, it was the assassin who had killed Emmett Milbarge.

"It's CIA agent Clyde Dekker."

"Agents, as you know when the FBI or local police department run a check on fingerprints the CIA knows about it. If a CIA operative is identified by the database the program will deny the match, but it raises a Red flag in which the operative superior is informed. The same goes for when ballistics check is run." The three of them nod their heads in understanding. "Lately I've received two red flags from my operatives and it's your job to tie up these loose ends."

"Agent Dekker had raised a red flag. The gun that had been issued to Agent Dekker had been used in the deaths of two persons. One was a sanction termination but the other one wasn't. I am concerned that Agent Dekker was freelancing."

The three of them nod their heads then the General continued

"The other red flag concerns the Intersect. Over to you Major."

With a flick of a button from Casey's laptop the monitor came to live.

"I want to show you something, Numbnuts!"

Chuck looked at the screen and noticed that there a flicking dot overlay on a map of the city. The screen displayed a date for this footage, the date didn't mean anything to him but the location was his work location. He was curious as to why they were showing him this; did they want him to flash?

"Good I want you to keep an eye on the screen, as we speed up the timescale you will notice that a second yellow dot activates at 7:30 at night. The red dot is your watch. It was about the time you rang Sarah to say you was working late to solve a software glitch. Notice how it stays at one location for the next 120 minutes. The yellow dot is from a tracker that I placed in your wallet. Watch as the yellow dot moves away from the red dot. Now I don't know about you but I'm pretty curious as where your wallet went."

Chuck watched as the yellow dot moves to a location in the suburb of Encino. The dot was stable for twenty minutes. Then the dot was on the move again, this time it made its way to Chuck's Apartment where it stayed for a 5 minutes before returning to the Roark Instruments headquarters and switching off.

"I never knew my wallet was missing."

"It's a clever piece of NSA magic, it only starts signalling when it separated from the watch tracker, and as an extra bit on brilliance it would not activate until it is out of your office building."

"Care to tell us where you went that night?"

I've could have gone anywhere, I don't know, it was a long time ago."

"It looks like you returned home then you realised that you left the watch at work and had to retrieve it so we wouldn't get suspicious."

Chuck opted to keep quiet as Casey began to apply the screws.

"Who is Emmett Milbarge?"

"I don't know."

Sarah pulled a picture out of her envelope and placed it down on the table.

"That's Emmett Milbarge?"

"So you do know Emmett Milbarge!"

"No. That was a question not a statement."

"I ask you again. Who is Emmett Milbarge?"

"I'm telling you, I don't know."

"Chuck your wallet spent 20 minutes at Emmett Milbarge's house."

Chuck again was lost for words, for someone who was known to babble constantly he was silent. Casey looked with disbelief at Sarah who herself rolled her eyes. Sarah pulled another picture out of her envelope and placed it down on the table. It was Milbarge's desk in his home. Chuck lent forward to look at the picture then he looked up at Sarah. Her blue eyes were now a cold grey colour.

"It doesn't look familiar."

"Why were your fingerprints found at the scene?"

Chuck thought back, he replayed the memory in his mind and realised that he didn't wear any gloves and he did touch a few things in the house including the desk, the keyboard, the computer and he pushed Milbarge's chair back to give him room to wipe the hard drive.

Chuck remained silent with his gaze down on the table. That's when he noticed that Sarah had placed another photograph on the table; he closed his eyes and turned away. It was a photo of a bloodied Milbarge slumped in his chair.

"Do you want to talk to me now?" Sarah asked firmly. "You are now facing a murder charge."

"I didn't do it." He said in a soft voice. He heaved his chest then he started to sob.

"Well talk to me, Chuck, tell me what you know, tell me everything, hold nothing back, otherwise you will be locked up for a very, very long time and you will never be free to see your sister or friends again."

Chuck was crying so much that he didn't notice that the two agents had left him alone in the room, the laptop was out of his reach and was displaying Millbarge's bodied corpse.

Sarah while distressed stepped out because she was feeling claustrophobic whereas Casey was itching to diss out some primitive form of justice.

Chuck only realised he was alone was when the two burly guards picked him up and dragged him back to the cell.

* * *

Later Chuck was standing behind the toughen glass door of the holding cell, Sarah was leaning against the wall on the other side of the door. Chuck and Sarah were looking at each other, in silence, was there nothing left to be said?

"I think it's ironic, I was sent here to protect you and keep you safe from others who would do you harm. I did the best I could, but I couldn't protect you from yourself."

She looked away then she walked away, leaving Chuck standing there feeling ashamed of himself, he muttered "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Sarah continued to walk out of the spybase vowing never to return, she will ask Beckman to be reassigned.

Chuck had been removed from his cell and had been chained at the table were Team Chuck would conduct their briefings. He could see that the monitor was on but nothing was displayed. He had been sitting there quietly for twenty minutes waiting for his interrogation. Casey entered the room and sat down on the opposite side of him, and gave him a cold look.

"Where's Sarah? Chuck asked

"Agent Walker whereabouts is none of your concern"

"I'm willing to talk but only if Agent Walker is the interrogator."

"You are in no position to make demands."

Chuck repeated "I'm willing to talk but only if Agent Walker is the interrogator."

"That's not going to happen. Agent Walker has already been debriefed and will be re-assigned."

* * *

Sarah was surprised when she found Casey standing at the other side of her hotel door. She wondered why he had come to see her rather than ring her as it was his usual style.

"We need you back at the bunker, the kid has done something to himself and we need you."

"Chuck? What has he done? Is he alright?"

"Don't know, he's in some sort of catatonic state. He was making demands that we were not going to submit to then he muttered something and now he is not responsive."

"But what's this got to do with me?" Sarah was reluctant to get re-involved with the traitor.

"Well before he passed out he muttered that Sarah has the key!"

"But I don't have any keys. I have nothing of his."

"Look the fact is the kid is catatonic and there is still need to interrogate him. We've tried various things to snap him out of it but nothing has worked so far. Time is at the essence here, we're about to move on Roark and Fulcrum and we need the intel. And we are willing to try anything."

Sarah left with Casey and was lead into the medical room that was occupied but one patient, their prisoner. There he was unresponsive and hooked up to various machines at would ping every now and then. He didn't look peaceful at all, there were signs for trauma on his body were his interrogators tried unsuccessfully to wake him up. She moved forward and stood over his bed, she couldn't resist the desire to hold his hand. She could felt the moisture was building behind her eyes as she watched him laying there.

"Chuck! It's me, Sarah!"

The response from the monitoring machines was almost immediate, the wavy lines bounced and the pinging was more frequent.

With a flutter of his eyelids he opened his eyes. He started to move but he was too well restrained, his initially tried to resist before he relaxed and turned his head to the woman in the room. He smiled at her then his expression became one of confusion. He was not sure why he was restrained. Then it dawned on him, this is real life and not a dream, he really was in custody.

"Tell me I've been dreaming" he pleaded.

"No Chuck this is real."

"There is a protocol in the intersect and I just have to think of it to trigger it."

"No there's not"

"Yes there is but its not in your intersect!". Chuck just realised what he just said

What intersect are you talking about?

Chuck muttered something and then slipped back into catatonic state. An unamused Sarah was looking at his slumped form, she had to think back to when she aroused him earlier so she repeated the words she said to him.

"Chuck! It's me, Sarah!"

With a flutter of his eyelids he opened his eyes. He smiled at her then his expression changed when he realised those deep blue eyes were that killer cold grey when she was angry.

"Try that stunt again and I'll let you starve to death. It's a horrible death by the way. Now what's this other intersect are you talking about?"

Chuck felt ashamed of himself for the stunt he pulled. He sighed and continued.

"Roark had been working on their own version of the intersect for years, it fact that was my main project. Our intersect was designed for educational purposes. Do you know I can speak fourteen languages! Most of the senior Roark executives have a version of it. The company uses it for negotiations with overseas companies. It helps when you have a good grasp of a host's language. If they say things in their own tongue that they think you don't understand it gives you an advantage."

* * *

It was on Tuesday morning when the news broke, Fox news was reporting on a raid on Roark Instruments by the I.R.S. Well that was the cover for the CIA and the NSA. The raid itself was well co-ordinated, the operation commenced at 8 pm on the Friday night after all of the employees had left the company's buildings for the long weekend. Using the cover that there was a gas leak in the area the NSA had sealed off a perimeter so no unauthorized persons could get access. The best geeks the CIA had available would scrutinize every bit data they could get. Arrest warrants for the upper management and department heads were carried out and most of the senior staff were taken into custody.

The SEC placed a trading halt on Roark stock. The Wall Street Journal provided the coverage to the raid as a search for tax avoidance. Ted Roark had escaped arrest because he was attending a dinner in the Costa Gravas embassy. He was later on the evening news claiming the government was wanting to steal all of its next generation products. Ted wasn't going to stop until he had certain congressman's head in a noose.

* * *

Sarah sat at the table with a couple of pieces of paper, after shuffling then she got down to business.

"Remember Chuck, you requested that I ask you the questions. If you are going to talk bullshit to be then you are wasting everybody time! We've had a breakthrough on the Langley bombing. One of your senior colleagues has arranged to cut a deal in return for the conviction of the terrorist who made the bogus cipher."

She looked him square in the eyes.

"Tell me about the cipher."

"The cipher?"

"Are you going to play dumb with me, I thought I knew you better than that."

"I can't tell you much."

"You do know we have Rodney Barnes in custody."

Sarah let that piece of information sink in to Chuck. She could tell that Chuck's brain was working overtime, it was a look that she knew from the time she had spent with him.

"Rodney Barnes is talking to us." She paused to get a gauge on Chuck's emotions. "Barnes is trying to cut a deal."

"You can't believe everything Rodney Barnes tells you!"

"Rodney Barnes said you helped make the cipher!"

"He's a liar, its Rodney Barnes' name on the blueprints if you care to look for it."

"Barnes also said that you were tasked in making sure the switch of the ciphers occurred."

"Rubbish, besides you can't prove a thing."

"Maybe, maybe not. We've still got a lot of prisoners to interrogate. Someone will talk, someone is bound to talk."

Sarah let her comment sink in. "You did have your hands on the cipher."

Chuck bowed his head. He felt a cold chill race up his spine.

"The cipher was only supposed to steal all the data. We had arranged it to send the data to one of Roark's overseas servers."

"But that's not what happened did it?"

"Someone altered the cipher to hack a missile base nearby and fire one of its missiles to its location."

"I have a question for you Chuck? How?"

I don't know, Barnes and I didn't plan for what followed. Ted must have got someone to alter the parameters."

"Why?"

"Ted Roark works in mysterious ways."

* * *

Chuck knew something was off with Sarah, he had to be blind not to notice that she wasn't her usual self that he had come to know. She seem to have lost her zest, he knew that the interrogation was as tough on her as it was with him. Chuck had no option on this because of his predicament but he was starting to wonder if he was being unusually cruel to woman he really cared about. Sarah should have been off to far away exotic places chasing down bad guys but she was here with Chuck because he was using a form of emotional blackmail to keep her close. Chuck had noticed that Sarah was now wearing baggier clothes and her hair seem to lack that freshly conditioner shine, and she was starting to tier by mid-afternoon.

Chuck was doing his best to keep the interviews upbeat as he liked to call them rather than the interrogations that they really were. A lot of the stuff Chuck would talk about was like gobble gook to Sarah but he took the time to explain it to her and anybody else watched the videotaped recordings

"Chuck I can't do this anymore!"

He knew it was over, he knew Sarah could not go on. It would be cruel to keep her here regardless of what he wanted. He stopped what he was doing to drop his shoulders and sigh.

"You really don't want to be here?" he said as he watched her look away. "It's okay really. I'm not blind, I'm not insensitive. I just want to thank you for lasting as long as you have."

His words cause the emotional dam wall to collapse. She didn't want to let him see her cry so she got up and left the room as quickly as she could. Chuck knew it would be the last he would see of her and he was okay with it. He was basically finished anyway. He had passed on enough technical data and theories to keep the nerds at the CIA and NSA busy for years. He knew that he was only releasing the tip of an iceberg but the government didn't know that. He parted with enough so the government would believe he was upholding his part of the plea bargain deal that he managed to secure.

* * *

With Sarah gone it was now John Casey who was going to ask the questions. Chuck and Casey were sitting patiently on the interrogation room while they were waiting for the rest of the interrogation team. Chuck had been in deep thought, then he turned his head and looked at the big man directly in the eyes.

"How you like to get rid of your boss? Beckman!"

Chuck knew that Beckman had been unreasonable blaming Chuck's minders for allowing Chuck to create the trouble that Chuck now found himself in. Casey didn't like to be chewed out, especially when it wasn't any fault of his own. Casey's cold steely blue eyes stared back at Chuck, and Chuck could see that Casey had at least some interest to what his prisoner had to say.

Casey turned the recording devices off for a few moments.

"Whatever you have to say prisoner, you better by quick and it better be legal!" menaced Casey.

"I'm assuming Roark's stock price has plummeted since the raid. I know Beckman has a private family trust that she uses to finance her retirement. She had a sizable holding of the stock. If we can prove that she sold her shares before the raid then she is guilty of insider trading."

"How do you know all this?"

"Roark Instruments made the finest equipment in the world for the computer industry. It was good for business that Roark's employees had the most up to date stuff at their disposal. Remember we are all hackers and good ones at that. So if something pricked your interest while on a break it didn't take long to find all the information you needed. I can be a nosy hacker. Spying on Graham and Beckman was just one of the many things I did. I know where all the money is kept. Beckman isn't clean and as for Graham well.."

Casey was initially shocked, but he remembered that Chuck had displayed his talents when dealing with Roark's systems breach.

"You can find it all on the Net, you just have to know what you are looking for."

Casey turned the monitoring equipment back on the moment the rest of the interrogation team arrived.

* * *

 **The United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute – D Division**.

Being in custody was the most unexciting thing to happen to you, in fact it was mostly boring as you were restricted in what you could do and when you could do them. Chuck always looked forward for his one hour of exercise in the yard. Being stuck in a cell for 23 hours a day, any chance to move around away from those four walls was a godsend. It was after his hour of exercise in which he would bounce a tennis ball against the concrete wall and catching it. The tennis ball was a privilege he received for good behaviour. At the end of his hour he was escorted back to his cell.

While he was out someone had placed a postcard at the end of his bed. Chuck was surprised when he received a postcard from an unsigned source. He studied it carefully, it was a picture of the Eiffel Tower, then he recognized the handwriting. She remembered, she cares he thought to himself.

The words on the card where fairly generic. "Having a great time, been visiting the night markets and climbed the Tower in the afternoon."

He sat back down on the edge of his bunk, and stared at the card. He turned it over and over and re-read the words time and time again

There was no code to the words, no hidden message but that didn't matter to Chuck. She had taken the time to remember him, if only for a little while.


	19. Chapter 19: Breakout

**I can't believe that my readers were surprised that Sarah turned him in.**

Chapter 19: Breakout

It was the middle of the night when he heard that distinct click of his cell door, the little LED light on the lock was glowing green not the customary red. Chuck started to think that there might have been a power surge and the security system had accidently released all the power locks. An irrational fear overtook him, what if this was a plot to finish him? If his door was unlocked and the other prisoner's doors were unlocked then nothing was stopping those other prisoners from entering his cell and attacking him. He was having thoughts of getting cut from a prison made knife. His fear was so great it he could feel the sensation of a knife cutting his throat. He cowled into the corner of his cell with the only thing he had to protect himself, a large book full of pictures of America's national parks. He stayed awake in the corner all night even as the door relocked itself a short time later.

Three weeks later it happened again, in the middle of the night when he heard that distinct click of his cell door, the little LED light on the lock was glowing green not the customary red. He knew he wasn't dreaming because he had been awake all night because of an incident earlier that day. Chuck had a run in with a new guard. He had been sitting quietly in the general common space for prisoners when he got harassed by a psycho bitch from hell guard that he had never seen before. He wondered if he gazed at her too long, her, for this was the first time he had seen a female guard in the place.

It was Chuck's fault he reasoned, he was the only prisoner who was not allowed to look at a guards face. The government feared that he still had the Intersect even though they took steps to remove it. Chuck was forced to put on a set of "Intersect Removal Glasses" These glasses supposedly put a block inside Chuck's brain so he couldn't access the things he could before. Because the Fulcrum intersect used different technology they hoped that blocking one would block them both. They ran a series of tests on Chuck and it seemed that the intersects had been neutralized. The authorities were wary on that he may "flash" and then use it to his advantage. Staring at a guard was asking for trouble, and especially a female guard. He couldn't help it, it had been so long since he saw a woman since he was locked up. It was the way she held herself, the way she walked, the way she moved, she was so balanced and had a certain grace about her.

He was obviously caught in the moment as he failed to register that she had marched over to his table and suddenly banged her baton on the tabletop. The sudden noise woke Chuck from his reverie, then he felt her grab him roughly by the front of his prison grab and forced him to stand up. Even she was surprised by the height when Chuck finally stood up straight, she countered by quick jab to Chuck's solar plexus. Chuck gasped as he collapsed down into his seat then the next thing he knew was she had one hand with a handful of his hair and her baton crushing his windpipe. He hoped she wouldn't slam his head down on the table as she curled her upper lip and glared at him.

She then in a low voice said some really nasty things to him, he couldn't remember later what her actual words were but his cage was totally rattled from the experience. Chuck retired to his cell for the rest of the day. He didn't leave it for his evening meal and was reluctant to exit for the evening roll call. As it was he was noticeably late for muster, he was still descending the chairs when his name was called out for the third time. That would earn him penalty points as he took his spot on the floor. He noticed that the bitch guard from hell was standing at one end of the muster room with cold expression on her face.

After muster he hurried back to his cell, it was his sanctuary, the other prisoners surprisingly respected each other's privacy, and they would not enter another prisoner's cell without being invited. The Guards on the other hand would arrive in numbers, the regular search for contraband would see six of them; four would march the occupant outside while the other two did the search. Chuck's cell had been searched twice and both times the guards found nothing.

Chuck stared at the little LED light, he noticed that it alternate between red and green, he was mesmerised by the blinking. Suddenly the government intersect flashed. The LED lights were blinking Morse code.

He was receiving a message, the government intersect was reading Morse code. That was why Chuck was mesmerised by the flickering lights and now he knew. The Fulcrum Intersect had been working in the background to repair and unblock the government intersect.

 _Get out of your cell then turn left then right._

Chuck grabbed his most prized possession, a pair of thick woolly socks, they kept his feet warm in this cold concrete prison. He put them on and then followed the instructions, he carefully opened the cell door only wide enough to squeeze pass then he gently closed the door but not enough to shut it. It was in case of a trap, he could try to make it back to the relative safety of his cell.

He looked down the balcony and saw that the coast was clear so he moved a quietly and quickly as possible to the left and then to the right. As he moved towards the end of this row he could see the guardroom light was on. He had to get past the guard. He thankful of the fact that he had thick socks on. He moved silently as possible to the guard room and peeked in the window. What luck, this guard was asleep. He continued on his way until he got to the locked gate. Just as he arrived he heard a click and the green LED was showing. He pushed the gate but it didn't move. Shit, shit, shit he thought, he was stranded in no mans land.

He lent back slightly and the gate moved with him. Idiot he thought, you pull the gate to you and not the other way. He stepped through the open gate and then closed it behind him. The LED went red. Fuck no going back now. Like a rat in a obstacle course he would have to keep moving forward.

Ahead of him in the hallway, there was a screen mounted on the wall. It flashed with a smiley face icon, and Chuck understood: he realised someone was taking the effort to guide him out. He was following directions from someone unknown who was currently hacking the security systems.

The hallway hit a T-junction. Chuck skidded to a halt, looking about, and spotted the screen with the smiley face to his right. He took off in that direction. He hooked a left at the next corner.

Once he rounded a corner and Chuck had only a split-second to read the screen on the wall, which read "Take the lift" in huge letters. He slid to a halt just before the lift, just as well he was wearing his thick socks. The lift doors opened and he got in, the doors shut before he could turn around and the lift started to move.

Chuck could feel the elevator rise, it confused him a bit as if he was going to get out shouldn't the lift take him to the ground floor? Chuck hated heights and he didn't want to jump from the roof.

Suddenly the lift stopped and the doors opened beckoning him to exit. He stepped out of the elevator and waited for a sign. A quick flicker of light to his right and chuck was off again. Another locked gate miraculously opened as he approached. He past thought the gate and could hear it shut and lock behind him. He continued on and wandered down the long corridor.

'Now's where it gets fun,' he thought to himself, he seemed to have been lead into a dead end. He was exposed and out in the open. He looked closer and noticed a laundry chute; Chuck grabbed the chute at waist-height in the wall and pulled it open with a firm yank. This was where the guards made the prisoners send their dirty linens through a laundry chute. Seeing no alternative he climbed feet first into it and away he went. Just in time, too. The moment the door slid shut, a guard shone their flashlight down the corridor.

It was nothing at all like a playground slide. After all, those were slow, short, and usually used in broad daylight. This one was pitch black, leaving Chuck with nothing but the sharp feeling of acceleration in his belly and the coolness of the metal of the slide at his back. He wriggled, trying to slow his descent even as he counted in his head.

No such luck. At several seconds, the slide had deposited him in some kind of collection bay. Chuck couldn't precisely tell what sort of room it was, actually, save that it was small—he didn't want to rise to his full height, the landing had jarred his back and he had trouble standing up. There was only a single door at one end and a larger shutter rollerdoor at the other. The rollerdoor would allow trucks to deliver and dispatch goods. Faint light streamed in from the doorway and from grates in the wall directly ahead of them, which, along with the chilling wind, told him he was close to the outside wall.

Chuck checked both the exits, they were locked, he was trapped, he would be discovered in the morning and then he would be severely punished. Nothing more he could do but wait and accept his fate.

Five minutes later Chuck could hear footsteps approaching his location. Then he hear the tell-tale noise of a set of keys jiggling as someone was unlocking the door. Chuck froze. Chuck didn't dare so much as breathe, though his heartbeat pounded loudly in his ears, so loudly that it amazed him that the guards couldn't hear it. He was stranded in no man's land as he couldn't hid behind anything. It made it easy for whoever entered the room to find him. Chuck was blinded by light then he found himself slammed up hard against a wall with his arm twisted behind his back. His attacker had placed one hand across his mouth so he could not make a noise or scream out.

In a low voice just above a whisper he could hear the psycho bitch's say to him;

"Don't piss yourself with fright punk! We've taking a huge risk to save your pathetic skinny arse!"

The guard was very rough with him as she threw him to the floor.

"You were supposed to take the stairs, not the laundry shute you idiot!"

She moved across to opened the rollerdoor that led to the outside enough so Chuck could slide himself under it..

"Stick to the shadows and move quietly" she hissed.

He couldn't believe it, the getaway car was a stretch limo, the passenger door opened but there is no interior light. He hesitated for a moment then he felt himself being roughly pushed into the car. Someone has followed him in and he could feel the car accelerate away. Once the car was up to speed the interior light came on and Chuck managed to turn himself around and plonk his arse on a seat. That's when he noticed that there were two persons dressed head to toe in black. They even had black material over their faces so Chuck could not identify who they were. Had he gone from the frying pan into the fire?

He reverie was disturbed by one of the all black figures removed the material over his head and now Chuck could see his face.

Bryce!

He was sitting in a car with Bryce fucking Larkin. Larkin was sitting there with a smirk on his face.

"Morning Chuck!"

Chuck was shocked, he wasn't sure what was going on but he knew he was in big trouble and to cap it all off he was staring face to face with Bryce Larkin.

"You!"

"Is that any way to greet an old friend. How about, Hey Bryce it's good to see you."

Chuck just shook his head in disbelief. Not in a million years would he thought that Bryce was behind this.

"Really? What have you done to me now? Now I'm an escaped felon. They will probably shoot me on sight. If I knew that you were behind this I'd rather stay in my cell."

Bryce laughed, "It wasn't my idea, and I've just come along for the ride. I had a wager that you would get yourself caught before you were out of your cell."

Chuck smirked.

He could hear that the other figure had laughed as well so he turned his head and stared. The black figure removed her headgear and Chuck gasped. It was the hardnose bitch warder that was giving him a hard time inside.

"What the…" was all words that Chuck could force out of his mouth.

You got too comfortable in the pen, I had to slap you around a bit to unsettle you. You were supposed to escape three weeks ago but you wouldn't leave your cell. We had to reschedule everything."

That comment left Chuck speechless as Bryce pulled out a large yellow envelope and handed it to Chuck.

"I managed to screw up your life twice so now I'm doing you a favour."

"What's this?" Chuck wanted to know without opening the envelope.

"It's a new identity. You can't be Charles Bartowski anymore. I'm giving you a second chance. Open it up, your new name should be bearable to you. "

Reluctantly he opened the envelope and allowed the contents to slide out onto his lap. Chuck looked at the contents of the envelope he had spilled out onto his lap. There was a passport and a wallet and several other pieces of paper. He looked at the passport and noticed that a picture of his face was inside. The name didn't leap out at him but what did was the nationality. He was now an Australian. He was supposed to be on a business trip.

"What, you're making me an Aussie now. I don't even like their beer. They have the world's most poisonous snakes and spiders, I hear they have vicious drop bears over there."

Bryce looked nonplus, "You want us to throw you out of the car? Would you like us to take you back? Escaping for jail will get you years in solitary."

Chuck looked at the passport again, at least he didn't have to change his first name. He was grateful that his surname wasn't Brown or Norris or Connors.

 **AN: Can anyone guess what will happen next? Please review**


	20. Chapter 20: Welcome home

**Chapter 20: Welcome Home**

After making his way through the Customs area of the airport, Chuck's nerves ease a bit as now he thinks he is on the home straight. He wonders now of who is going to meet him. Bryce wasn't clear on that minor detail. Fortunate or not he only had carry-on luggage so he made his way quickly through the crowd to the exit. He walked through the doors and out into the airport proper, he looked around and not for the first time appreciated his natural height advantage over the rest of the general population. After failing to spy a familiar face he allowed a feeling of disappointment for envelope him. He may have got away from the US government but he was feeling very alone. He would have to make it on his own. He checked his wallet and found that he had only a few small US dollars. Even with a weaker Australian dollar he knew he didn't have enough to take a taxi away from the airport. And if he took a taxi, where would he go? His passport did not have an address on it, it only had the place of birth, not that he knew or cared where the place was, it was fictional anyway.

He musing was interrupted when a red headed woman with what appeared to be a sleeping baby in a pram suddenly materialised beside him. He couldn't actually see a child in the pram so he dismissed it as part of the cover. _An enemy of the state posing as a family man!_

"Husband." He heard her say with a really thick Russian accent. He turned to look at her and studied her. She had red hair and was wearing large sunglasses so he couldn't see her eyes. He noticed that she was reasonable slim with ample bosom. The woman had reasonable height about her, she was probably taller than most women in the terminal. She grabbed him by the arm and then demanded a kiss.

Chuck leant forward and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"That's it?" the woman with the thick Russian accent queried.

"I'm not really good with pda."

"Well if you are going to be my husband you better get used to it!"

The reality of that statement made Chuck's head spin, had Bryce screwed him again? Stanford, Intersect, Jailbreak and now stuck on the other side of the world having to pretend to play happy family with a crazy Russian broad.

She interlocked him by the arm and directed him out of the terminal, Chuck forever being a gentleman insisted on pushing the pram to God knows where. The first thing that struck him was the heat, once he was outside the air conditioned terminal the natural heat of the open air plus heat radiating off the bitumen was unpleasant. The other thing he noticed was the light, everything had a golden glow to it, he looked briefly at the sun and noticed that it was golden as well. It put him off a bit, he had heard that Australia was a hot, dry continent, but surely it wasn't going to be this hot and this dry all the time.

Chuck's wife noticed his concern.

"It's bushfire season, plenty of smoke in the atmosphere. There's supposed to be a cool change coming later this afternoon."

Out across the roadway to the short term car park she never loosen her grip once. She only let him go once he was at the paying station, she put the ticket in the machine and then paid the money. She then led him the family car with a child seat in the rear passenger compartment.

As the couple closed in on the car he heard snuffles coming from the pram. He hoped it was a prerecording as to make the cover more plausible. The wife hit the button on her key ring and the car automatically unlocked. It was now when she released the vice like grip she had on him. Chuck took a moment to relax a bit as his wife opened the rear door in preparation of loading the pram in. His eyebrows peaked when he realised that there actually was a baby in the pram and now the woman was lifting the infant up into her arms.

"Be a dear and load the pram into the car!" the thick accented woman asked.

Jolted into action Chuck move to the pram and then had to figure out how to collapse it before loading it into the car. This was a task that had caught him by surprise, he never had dealt with collapsing a pram before. It took a little while to figure out how the task was done. He then collapsed the pram and loaded it into the car. He then closed the rear door and moved around to the right side of the vehicle. There he saw his wife had opened the door and was sitting with her legs out of the car and breastfeeding. She had her blouse unbuttoned and had the baby lying sideways as it nuzzled on to her. Chuck stopped dead in his tracks and looked at her in horror before blushing and turning his head.

"What" the wife said. "The baby's hungry."

"But someone might see you."

"It's Australia. Nobody cares. You're my husband, you are allowed to watch."

Chuck was looking at this surreal scene of his 'wife' sitting in a public car park breastfeeding and not feeling any shame. He felt like a complete goose. What sort of country had he landed in?

"What's the matter husband? Do you find me unattractive?"

"Ah no, not at all."

"Then why don't you look at me while I'm feeding baby?"

"Umm, I just think that it is a bit rude to stare."

* * *

There was an uneasy silence before the mother spoke again.

"By the way I'm driving. Do you know how to drive on the left hand side of the road?"

Chuck shook his head, he wasn't the safest driver back in the 'States' so he didn't want to risk anyone's life especially a baby.

"I guess not."

"Besides you don't know where we live, do you?"

"Good point."

"Hmmm, looks like baby is finished, you can have this seat in a minute once I put baby in capsule."

Chuck stood back and allowed his "wife" room, she buttoned up her blouse then she rose to stand up and then open the back door and place the now sleeping and content baby in the car seat.

Chuck now got into the vacant passenger seat and put his seatbelt on. His wife then moved around the car and got in the driver's side and did the same. She started the car, reversed out of the parking spot and drove off to exit the multilevel carpark. Once she had paid for the parking ticket she then drove onto the freeway.

It dawned on him who this woman was, even though they drive on the opposite side of the road he recognized her particular driving style. He had been driven to many places by her in the past and now he got it.

"So what was with the thick Russian accent? You are very good at it by the way."

The driver giggled, that was her tell, there was only one person Chuck knew that giggled like that. Sarah Walker. The driver changed down through the gears and took a freeway exit to slow down to a stop for the traffic lights. It was then when she spoke.

"I thought it would be a great joke. You flying half way around the world only to discover you have been hitched to a Russian mail catalogue bride. You initial look on your face was priceless. For a moment I thought you would turn around and jump back on that plane."

Chuck gave a half-hearted laugh, it would be funny if he was the third person but not as the victim. He was wondering where Sarah kept her sense of humour, it never seemed to surface back in the States, she would laugh at his jokes but never crack one of her own.

"Ha Ha, very funny. What's with the hair?"

"I needed a change, new life , new baby, new family. I kind of like it. Do you like it."

"As long as the collar matches the cuffs." Chuck did his best Sean Connery. He quoted a line from Diamonds are forever.

He wasn't sure if Sarah knew what he was getting at as she didn't have a comeback. Chuck decided to take in his new surroundings by looking out the window. Australia was a dry place in summer. There was a lot of building going on where ever they were going. Chuck then turned to his "wife" and asked.

"So… What do I call you?"

"Sarah is fine." She said, "Oh you can't answer to Chuck anymore. Here a chuck is the end of a power-tool. You can be Charlie or Chas.

Chuck thought for a moment and then announced, "Charlie, I'll answer to Charlie!"

"Charlie it is" Sarah replied

Having dealt with that matter Charlie pressed on.

"I thought I would never see you again. I thought of what I did to you and our country, I would never see you again. I must say that that postcard you sent from Paris really cheered me up. What made you change your heart?"

A sensible question and Sarah took the time to answer it. He had the right to know why she organised to break him out of prison. Bryce and couple of colleagues owed her a few favours. She steeled herself as the knuckles began to turn white as she held the steering wheel.

"I was told from a young age that I could never have a child but by some miracle it happened. I was shocked but I was secretly delighted. Of course I didn't know it at the time when I had to interrogate you but I soon wondered why I was feeling unwell. Once the test by a doctor confirmed that I was indeed pregnant I had to withdraw from the case. I was in a clear case of conflict of interest. I couldn't go on whilst this baby was developing inside me. It did not matter to me that my baby's father was an enemy of the state, when the fact that he managed to give me the one thing that no other man had ever managed to do for me. The one thing that I wished for so badly that I was told would never be."

That got Charlie's brain to do the maths, he was in a sexual relationship with Sarah before he got arrested. He looked behind him to the baby in the baby capsule. The young child was awake and he was preoccupied with the set of plastic keys Sarah had tied to the safety capsule. The keys all took turns at being chomped on by the infant's small mouth.

"Charlie," the name she now must use too, "There is an envelope in the glove-box for you to peruse!"

Charlie reached into the glove box and pulled out a yellow envelope. He opened it at one end and slid the paperwork out. They were various legal government issued documents for identification purposes.

"Are all these documents real?"

"Yep, and you are legally married to me. That is the marriage certificate." She said with a smile.

Charlie looked at it, sure enough it had their new persona's names on it and he noticed the date of the union. It was the date of the first time they made love. He noticed the groom's signature was there and it fascinated him. He grabbed a pen and on the back of the envelope signed his new name.

'Son of a bitch' he thought, the signatures were identical.

* * *

"Sarah." Charlie asked, "Why are we in Australia?"

"If I was going to have a baby I wanted family to be around me!"

"Family? You have family?"

"I have cousins and aunts here. My mother was born here."

"Really, you never told me this before."

"Spies like to keep secrets, it's a part of what we are."

"Can you tell me now? Now that I'm your husband." For the first time it dawned on him that he was now going to be a husband, father and a family man. Charlie had to remind himself not to freak out.

"My mother was an exchange student who spent a year in America as a part of a community exchange program. While over there she met my father and fell in love. When her year was up she had to return home to Australia so my father decided to follow her. Once in Australia he tracked her down and they reconnected. They wanted to get married. Unfortunately my father began to hang out with the wrong sort of crowd. He got caught thieving and the Federal Minister had him deported. My mother by this time was pregnant with me and she decided to head back to Kansas to be with my dad.

I was born in Kansas but the family life was not a happy one. My dad was always out of town because he was a travelling salesman. He had a lots of trysts with other women and when my mother found out about it she was very hurt and angry. One night Dad came home and there was a terrible row and it ended when Mom shot Dad in the buttocks. Mom got charged and Dad sued for divorce and custody of me. To avoid a prison sentence Mom was offered a plea bargain that resulted in her getting deported home to Australia."

"So she left you behind?"

"Well, yes I suppose, but at the time I wanted to be with my Dad. My relationship with my mother as a kid was not a happy one."

"Oh, so where is she now?"

"You'll met her tomorrow, she's coming around for lunch."

Charlie didn't know if this was going to be a good thing or not.

* * *

They lived in Diggers Rest. Diggers Rest was a satellite town to the North West suburbs of Melbourne and had a new housing development. The town was an original overnight camping spot for the diggers on the way to the Bendigo goldfields in the early 1850's. As a town it never took off but with metropolis closing in a land release allowed a new estate to be built. It was a magnet for immigrants with young families. Australia has one of the highest percentage of home ownership in the world. These new estates were cheaper to buy into than a more established suburb. Charlie didn't know it but most his neighbours were from what the locals would call "New Australians".

Sarah pulled up in the driveway of what Charlie believed to be a new house. The house appeared neat and tidy and the garden needing to be established. Charlie smirked to himself 'I hope Sarah doesn't think I have a green thumb!' Being ever helpful Charlie carried the baby into the house and he was curious of how she decorated the place.

Sarah had nouveau minimalist decor throughout the home. There wasn't much in the way of furniture, just the usual things you would expect for someone who had a transient lifestyle. It appeared the back sunroom was where Sarah spent much of her time. This room was a little bit untidier than the rest of the house and there was a rug on the floor and a baby's mobile near the couch. Charlie could see the patio beyond the sliding glass doors and the pergola. Keen to walk outside he made his way around the baby's stuff before he opened the double sliding doors at the back off the house and stepped out into the heat.

Charlie's house was at the end of the estate, they were the last house before there were open fields. Charlie noticed that these paddocks were bone dry from the hot summer and lack of rain. Under the shade of some gum trees across the open valley he could make out a mob of kangaroos lying down resting from the heat of the day. Charlie got a quick lesson from the friendliest Aussies of all: the blow fly, there a million of the little buggers and they won't leave you alone. He would wave his arms which would upset the flies for a moment before they would land on him again. If he didn't keep his mouth shut he swear that the little buggers would fly right in.

Escaping the heat and the flies Charlie return to the cooler air conditioned house and continued the tour. Sarah led him down the passageway to view the rest of the house.

Charlie noticed that this was a three bedroom house. One of the bedrooms was the nursery but the other was basically used for storage. He did notice that a framed Tron poster was leaning against the wall. And then to the main bedroom with ensuite. The bed had been made but it didn't have a comforter on it. Nights are too warm for more than a cotton sheet. The bedroom had a walk in robe and the entrance to the ensuite on the same wall. The ensuite had a shower and a vanity unit.

* * *

She found him in the nursery sitting quietly watching his baby sleep, she stood for a little while in the doorway watching him, her curiosity got to her and she had to know what was going through the incredible mind of his. Charlie had that feeling that there were eyes looking at him so he turned his head, noticing that it was his wife, well who else could it be.

"I'm sorry I wasn't at her birth. I should have been by your side."

She moved over and sat sideways in his lap and put her arms around his neck.

"You're here now, the family is together, that's all that matters."


	21. Chapter 21: Out and About

**You have to thank ersk4 for this he requested (** Any chance that you could do an epilogue and show Chuck encountering more stuff in Australia? Like going to some stores with Sarah? Seeing some sites? And meeting Sarah's mother?)

 **Chapter 21: Out and About**.

The first six months of living in Australia took a lot of adjusting for Charlie Dennan. Some of the little things like which side of the road to drive on took a couple of weeks to remember to drive on the left hand side.

He abandoned the idea of being a stay at home dad, Sarah wasn't keen to search for work and Chuck needed things to do to avoid boredom. Sarah had a sizeable nest-egg so money wasn't going to be an issue for quite a while. To ease himself into it Charlie applied and got a part time job at a major department store. Harvey Norman is a large Australian-based, multi-national retailer of furniture, bedding, computers, communications and consumer electrical products. Charlie worked two days a week in the store electrical area advising customers on the latest and newest technology. It was water of a duck's back for Charlie, pre-college days when he worked to support himself he was employed by the Buy More chain. He made sure he wasn't going to fall into the trap of committing himself forever working retail.

He didn't want to work in his field of expertize, managing software development as he was wary that the long arms of Interpol may come knocking on his door one day. Charlie Dennan wanted to and needed to live his cover. He had a beautiful and potentially deadly wife at home with his "little rascal" toddler daughter.

He didn't want to venture into places that had close circuit TV because he knew the CIA had facial recognition programs that searched around the world for escaped felons like himself. Whenever he had to go into the centre of Melbourne he would always wear his Akubra hat he got from Aussie Disposals and sunglasses. When Sarah accompanied him she would do the same, large sunglasses and a variety of hairstyles that hid certain features of her face.

Charlie developed a likening to hiking, Sarah and he would go on long bushwalks as there is no surveillance in the Australian bush. They would drop their baby off with her grandmother and then go for a hike before returning to a filling meal in the evening.

And that brings up the topic of Sarah's extended family. For Charlie, Sarah worst traits were her mother's best, there was something about Emma Dean, (she had remarried) that got up the nose of Charlie Dennan, she was a busy body who had the annoying knack of asking embarrassing personal questions that had the habit of getting under Charlie's skin. Emma was delighted to have her oldest daughter living nearby. Charlie for the sake of family harmony had to tolerate the woman although he would never spend a minute longer with her if he could manage it.

Charlie hadn't met Emma's ex-husband, from what Charlie was told he was a construction worker who had hurt his back and never worked again. He was on workers compensation for years before getting the invalidity pension. He who lived up country somewhere on several acres that had heaps of old cars in various stages of disassembly. He had done time for re-birthing stolen cars.

Sarah's oldest half-brother, Robert, had joined the Navy and was currently in the Gulf on deployment, he lived with his partner and family in Townsville. They lived so far away Charlie doubted that he would ever meet them in a face to face. Emma seemed to view him through rose coloured glasses. He had moved out of home as soon as he was able. He had signed up while still at school. One day he was a schoolboy the next he was a Naval cadet.

Sarah's younger brother lived up to his name, Nick was in the 'Nick' for nicking things. Her younger half brother was a small time criminal and drug user. It was his criminal enterprise that got his father imprisoned. Nick used his father's property and large workshop to strip stolen cars of their parts for reselling. One of Nick's associates had cut a deal with Police to give state's evidence, and dobbed Nick in. Nick also confessed to the cultivating of a crop of Marijuana plants that was growing on his father's land.

And then there was Molly, she was born probably in an attempt to save her parent's marriage. She was ten years younger than her younger brother. Her father left the family home shortly after she was born so she never had much to do with him. Surprising for Charlie, he thought that Molly was alright. She didn't have the bad habits that her brother had, and she was courteous and polite. She was doing well at school but she still hadn't decided what she wanted to do with her life. Molly would occasionally babysit Chloe. If it wasn't for Molly, Charlie sometime wished he had been been hitched to a Russian mail catalogue bride.

* * *

After several months and with the worst of winter behind them Charlie booked a holiday house for a weekend down at Paradise Beach. That required a three and a half hour drive through the lush green hills of the Latrobe Valley. The small beachside town was mostly deserted, as most of the homeowners were still at their principal place of residence. They wouldn't venture down until there was a major improvement in the weather.

For Charlie the setting was perfect, they were on a near deserted beach with the little one occupied with building a sandcastle. He took Sarah by the hands and they stood practically toe to toe opposite each other. He removed his sunglasses and then did the same to his wife. Sarah knew something was up, he had been mysterious for the last couple of weeks.

"Sarah there is something I want to do because I fell it isn't right between us. The arrangement in which we live by was set up without any input from me. Well, I want to have my say."

He surprised her by suddenly dropping to one knee.

"Sarah, I never got the opportunity to ask so I'm asking now. Will you marry me?"

Sarah was stunned but she was delighted, and looking down at her man with those big brown puppy dog eyes how could she resist.

"Yes. I will marry you."

Chuck while he was still kneeling pulled her engagement ring out of his pocket and slid it onto her ring finger. Then he stood up again and out came the next part.

"I, Charles Angus Dennan, hear by take you, Sarah Maree Dennan to be my lawful wife, to have and behold, in good times and bad, in sickness and in health, for the rest of ours days Amen."

Sarah could feel the tears developing in the back of her eyes. A simple commitment between two people, perfect.

"I, Sarah Maree Dennan take you Charles, and even when you are Chuck, to be my lawful wedded husband, to have and behold, in good times and bad, in sickness and in health, for the rest of ours days Amen."

Charlie retrieved the Sarah's wedding ring from his other pocket and slid in on her finger. They moved together and their lips met in unison. Their passion was interrupted by the little one who was tugging on the hem of her dress. Their lips parted as Sarah bend down to lift her daughter up and the little one got ambushed by her parents as they both planted kisses on her rosy cheeks.

"Oh one more thing." Charlie said as he kept hold of Sarah's left hand. Out of nowhere Charlie slid another ring onto her finger. Sarah looked at it, a little confused.

"It's an eternity ring" Charlie smiled, "It's a symbol of my everlasting love to you, I had it designed to set off the other rings."

You couldn't get the smile off Sarah's face, as young Chloe was passed over to her father's arms Sarah took the opportunity to hold her rings up into the sun. She loved the way the light reflected off all the little diamonds before return to the two members of her family for another round of kisses.

It suddenly occurred to her that Sarah had been set up. Charlie had picked a fight and later when she was having a bath he had walked in on her and took the rings off the vanity basin and said he wouldn't return them until she had changed her attitude towards him. She thought it was odd, the argument was over the most trivial thing, in fact she couldn't remember what it was about. All she could remember was backing down and letting him rant until she withdrew to have a soaking bath. He had the nerve to steal the rings but she decided to let it slide. She had a little bit of dermatitis from the rings anyway so hopeful her skin would recover.

* * *

As Spring arrived in Diggers Rest, the Dennans would often take long afternoon walks to the local recreation ovals and Sarah would powerwalk around the ovals to keep fit. Charlie would take Chloe to the play equipment and entertain her.

The sound of knocking noise of willow hitting leather echoed around the ovals. Charlie could see a group of young men milled around the practice nets a fair distance away. His harmony with his daughter was interrupted by a stay leather ball that skied in his direction only to fall short by twenty metres then bounce and roll to a stop nearby. Charlie spied the ball and went over to pick it up. It was a two piece leather ball stitched together in a way that a long seam was raised above the surface of the rest of the ball.

"Can we have our ball back please?" Charlie heard a youth still in his school uniform call out.

Charlie picked up the ball and threw it back in the youth's direction. Not having thrown a cricket ball before Charlie's throw flew over the youth's head at fell towards a group of players behind him. The ball fell harmlessly into the gloves of the oldest player there.

The call of "Thank you" filled the air.

Chuck went back to giving attention to his daughter, mock chasing his little girl and hearing her squeals and giggles was simple favourite for him. Sarah had finished her power walks and was looking at getting a drink from her efforts. A loud call of "Incoming" was heard and Sarah turn to see a red ball and bounce towards her. With precision she reached out and caught the ball on its way through. Chuck was now getting annoyed that the play equipment was within firing range of renegade cricket balls.

"Give it to me" Charlie said with more force than necessary.

So Sarah obliged him by tossing to ball to him. In a smooth motion Charlie caught the ball and then threw it back in the direction of the cricketers. The ball sailed over their heads and with one bounce hit the back of the practice nets.

"Let it go" Sarah pleaded, she didn't want her husband to be full of rage. "Come on it's time to prepare dinner and bath time."

They were interrupted by the oldest of the cricketers, he had walked over from the practice nets to speak to Charlie. Charlie had to find his inner calm, this man was old enough to be his father, Charlie could fill his anger and blood pressure return to their normal levels.

"You have a very powerful arm! Would you mind if you can demonstrate your style to the team?"

Charlie looked at his wife, she gave a reconciliatory nod of her head, dinner could wait a few minutes if it meant peace was maintained.

"Um, Sure." Charlie replied to the fast approaching man.

"Don Trevillian, captain of the Diggers Rest C grade team and coach of the under sixteens. Most of the boys play Saturday morning in the juniors then double up in the afternoon for C grade."

"So what do you want from me again?"

"I just want you to throw a ball a few times and hopefully some of the boys will try to emulate your style. As I said, you have a great throwing arm."

The trio with the little one left the play equipment and moved down to the edge of one of the ovals. Don got the schoolboys to gather around and they all watched Charlie demonstrate his throwing style. Charlie threw from the boundary to where Don was standing with his keeper gloves on in the center of the oval. A cricket ball is ever so slightly smaller but a smidgeon heavier than a baseball, but with Charlie's big hands it didn't feel much different.

"So do you practice often?" Sarah chipped in wanting to know more about the goings on in her neighbourhood.

"We train two nights a week, it's only the young ones, they come straight from school, as the days get longer and daylight savings kicks it then the A and B graders will make an appearance."

* * *

The next Thursday Sarah's mum had Chloe so while Sarah did her powerwalking on the oval Charlie engaged in conversations with Don and the rest of the team. With some encouragement they got Charlie to have a go at batting in the practice nets. Charlie was shown how to put the protective gear on and into the nets he walked.

If first difference Charlie noticed that in cricket the ball bounces before you try to hit it. It wasn't that easy as some of the boys knew how to make the ball swing away from the batsman and Charlie would swing and miss. One of the boys interrupted Sarah on her walk and told her Charlie was having a bat, she should see how he went. To be honest, Charlie looked awkward, he had the tendency to swing the bat baseball style. Don gave him a few tips to sort himself out but there was little improvement.

After Charlie had his ten minutes in the nets he saw the smirk on his wife's face.

"Think you can do better?" he challenged.

"Challenge accepted!" she replied.

Sarah had some very willing helpers assist her on putting the protective pads on and other gear. After a few tips from the captain on how to use the bat she took her place in the practice nets. The young teammates bowled at a reduced pace to her. She was a picture of concentration as she endeavored to hit the ball with the bat. She enjoyed her ten minutes in the nets, even Charlie had several attempts at bowling to her but he hit the side wall of the nets on every occasion.

While Sarah was removing the protective gear Charlie had a conversation with the captain.

"I'm not very good am I?"

"Well, it's your first time. No one expects miracles on your first attempt. You have limbs going everywhere, you remind me of a frog in a blender. But if you are keen we will sort you and your style out."

"I'll keep that in mind. Is there anything else I should know?"

"Always remember, cricket is a side on game, you are side on when you bat and you are side on when you bowl."

And that's how the Dennans became village cricketers.

Over the next couple of weeks, Charlie's teammates help Charlie work out a bowling style to suit his build, being tall and lanky Charlie could generate surprising pace because of his long arms and he could get extra bounce because of the height he let go of the ball. He still sprayed the ball around so he was more of a hazard to players' health.

It was during some fielding drill they discovered just how good Sarah's throwing arm was, she was extremely accurate, and she was constantly hitting the stumps when she was out at a distance and on the move. Sarah claimed she had some softball experience but Charlie thought her CIA training had something to do with it.

Once the season commenced Sarah and Charlie were the last two of the side to bat and when fielding Sarah was in the covers while Charlie was in the outfield because of his throwing. As the season progressed Charlie got the occasional bowl, the extra speed and bounce was known to cause concern to the other side.

It turned out that Don Trevillian was a contractor for a house building company. He was the one that gave Charlie the idea and the start on what became a profitable small business for him. Don and Charlie were talking one afternoon while their team was batting and Charlie mention his electrical skills.

Charlie form a business called 'Dennan Communications'. His business relied on wiring up uncompleted houses for all the modern gizmos every home must have. Charlie would come in before the plasters arrived and would lay wire through the ceiling and walls for the communication plugs. Later when the owners were ready to move in he would set up their systems. The advantage of living in expanding new estates and his connection to Harvey Norman meant he was recommended by fellow sales staff. It kept him busy and enough money rolled in so they didn't have to rely on Sarah's nest egg.

* * *

The Diggers Rest C Grade was not a strong batting side, they were often bowled all out which meant everyone got a chance to bat. Charlie was generally considered a bunny when batting, he swung his bat as if it was a golf club so when he got the occasional hit, the ball would race off to the boundary. Sarah was more thoughtful and could hit the ball into the gaps for an easy run. She would often be not out at the end of the innings. She even declined an offer to bat higher up the list because she didn't want to show up her husband.

* * *

A small article appeared in the local newspaper.

A rare event happen during the Diggers Rest – Hanging Rock C grade cricket match on Saturday. A husband and wife performed a hat-trick for Diggers Rest. Needing 17 runs to win with one over remaining, Diggers Rest captain threw the ball to Charlie Dennan to bowl the last over. Dennan who only took up the game this season had to bowl to Hanging Rock's inform batsman Nathan Hammond. With seventeen runs to win and fifteen for Hammond to bring up his century, Dennan's first ball was dispatched back over the bowler's head for six. The second ball had the same fate and Hammond moved his score to 97. The third ball was just short of a length and Hammond drove it into the covers only for Charlie's wife Sarah, to take good catch moving to her right.

With five runs to get and eight wickets down the Diggers Rest captain brought the field in with Sarah Dennan taking first slip position. Charlie's fourth ball moved enough off the seam to get an outside edge that flew to his wife to take a comfortable catch at waist height.

Now with the last batsman in, the extra bounce of Charlie's fifth ball got the gloves of the tailender and Sarah Dennan took the catch high to her left.

Diggers Rest captain and wicketkeeper Don Trevillian said," In my younger days I would have gone for it but I knew Sarah was beside me and she has a safe pair of hands!"

* * *

At the annual awards night for the Diggers Rest Cricket Club, both Charlie and Sarah won an award each, Sarah won the fielding award for C grade as she was caused more run outs that the rest of the team combined. Her accurate throws from the covers had caught 7 batsmen short of their ground. Charlie received a trophy for his hat-trick. The club had the used cricket ball mounted with a brass inscription of what happen that day.

Charlie signed up to play again the following year, but Sarah's condition wasn't going to allow it. Nathan James Dennan was born in November.

 **The end for now**

 **AN: All the places mentioned are real, look them up on Google maps. The Diggers Rest sports ovals are on Houdini Way. Yes that is the Harry Houdini. He was the first man to successfully fly and safely land an airplane in Australia in 1910 at Diggers Rest. The first man to fly a plane in Australia crashed on landing three months earlier.**

 _ **I wonder if President Obama is going to pardon Ted Roark? I heard Ted made large donations to the Clinton Foundation!**_


End file.
